He was a friend of Dorothea Dix and promoted education, care of the mentally ill, and prison reform in Alabama.

While governor of Alabama, Collier had managed to offend a group of visiting chargés d'affaires from France, representing business interests in the port of Mobile.

The French diplomats responded by cultivating a relationship with Alabama politician James Shields, who they believed would better serve their interests.

In the 1851 Alabama gubernatorial election, Shields had the public backing of France's diplomatic representatives and the French expatriate business community in Mobile.

In a move later cited as his reason for having to depart the United States, the French ambassador in Washington DC, Guillaume Tell Poussin, took the unprecedented step of endorsing Shields in the election and of "encouraging the men of Alabama to make him governor."

Shields was considered the invité d'honneur or "guest of honor" at the event, and Hubbard later concluded he had only been invited as an insult.