Following that, in 1861, Teller set up a law office in Central City, present-day Colorado, where he married Harriet M. Bruce and had two sons and a daughter.

[1] In 1865, Teller was one of the chief organizers of the Colorado Central Railroad, writing its original charter and becoming its president for five years.

[2] Afterwards, until Colorado achieved statehood, Teller continued work as a corporate attorney, where he would gain enough prominence to be admitted to its upcoming Senate.

[3] In 1882, President Chester Arthur named Teller secretary of the interior after Samuel Kirkwood resigned on April 17 of that year.

He was instrumental in securing a declaration in favor of bimetallism, and he was a conspicuous actor in the prolonged fight in the Senate against its unconditional repeal following the 1892 Republican National Convention.

The decision thus made was to keep the gold standard intact indefinitely and, in response, Teller and 24 others marched out of the 1896 Republican National Convention.

With the decline of the Silver Republican organization, Teller served as Colorado's Democratic senator for the remainder of the time until 1909.

[2] Teller first became implicated in Native American affairs during the "Indian troubles" in 1863, when the Arapahoe and Cheyenne people were forced off the eastern plains of Colorado.

[7] As Secretary of the Interior with oversight over the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Teller also had a lot to do with reforming Native American schools.

Customs, dances, plural marriage, and other practices were to be prosecuted by a "Court of Indian Offenses," with authority to impose penalties of up to 90 days imprisonment and withholding government rations.

Although condemned by some for preventing U.S. annexation of Cuba, Teller believed with conviction that the goal of the United States should be to support the Cuban War of Independence for an autonomous nation.