 A native of Brookfield, Massachusetts, Draper clerked for a Boston merchant before moving to New York City to begin his own business career.A successful merchant, he became wealthy enough to broaden his holdings, which grew to include real estate, insurance, and banking.A Whig in politics, and later a Republican, Draper served on the Whig state committee several times in the 1840s and 1850s; after becoming a Republican following the party's founding in the mid-1850s, he served as chairman of the New York Republican State Committee from 1860 to 1862.