 He was elected Mayor of Watertown in 1872.He was New York State Attorney General from 1884 to 1887, elected on the Democrat ticket in 1883 and 1885.In 1889, he was elected a judge of the New York Court of Appeals, was re-elected in 1903, and remained on the bench until the end of 1907 when he reached the constitutional age limit of 70 years.