He became an abolitionist in 1835, after witnessing the disruption of an antislavery meeting by a mob in Utica.”
He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as an independent in 1853
He resigned his seat in 1854 at the end of his first session.
Under the excitement following the raid on Harpers Ferry in October 1859, he became temporarily insane, and for several weeks was confined in an asylum in Utica.
In 1867 he was one of the signers of the bail bond to release Jefferson Davis from captivity.
Died visiting family in New York