Briggs's education started in the common schools of Vermont and continued at the Norwich Academy in Connecticut.

After Benjamin Briggs died in an accident, his widow relocated to Cambridge, Ohio, and Ansel lived there for the next six years, entering a stagecoach business.

[1][2] In 1839, Briggs moved to Andrew, Iowa, a recently mapped-out town, purchasing many of the empty lots and then reselling them.

This plus his readiness to be involved in public affairs made it easy for him to be chosen as a member of the Fifth Territorial Assembly from Jackson County in 1842.

In the cause of inauguration, Governor Briggs said, "From my want of experience in the affairs of civil administration, I must naturally feel a great degree of embarrassment in my present position; but that feeling will be greatly lessened from the hope and belief which I entertain, that in your character of representatives of an enlightened constituency, you will kindly extend to me your aid and indulgence.

"[7] True to his campaign promise of no outsider influence, he sold his contracts with the Post Office Department and his administration was praised as, "one void of any special interest .

Briggs's administration laid the groundwork of Iowa transportation infrastructure: planning and building roads, bridges, and railroads.

The Missouri-Iowa boundary dispute which caused a great deal of excited controversy and even almost resorted to arms was resolved in 1848 with the help of his skillful diplomacy.

He became involved in parts farther west in the country: in 1860, he made a trip to Colorado during the mining excitement of the time and in 1863, Briggs with his son John Shannon Briggs and a large group went to the state of Montana, where he remained involved in mining until 1865 when he returned to Iowa.

In 1881 after a very brief illness Briggs died at his son John's residence in Omaha, Nebraska, due to ulceration of the stomach.

[11] Born in Vermont, Ansel Briggs through his life lived in the states of Ohio, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, and Montana joining the western march to settle and develop new lands.