Seargent Smith Prentiss was an American attorney and politician. He served as a state representative in Mississippi and then was elected in 1838 as US representative from the state in the Twenty-fifth United States Congress, serving one term from 1838 to 1839. Prentiss was noted as one of the most remarkable orators of his day. Daniel Webster, known himself as a great orator, said that he had never heard a speaker as powerful as Prentiss.

The 25th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1837, to March 4, 1839, during the first two years of Martin Van Buren's presidency.