He was District Attorney of Oneida County from 1825 to 1834; Judge of the Fifth Circuit Court from 1834 to 1838; and a New York State Bank Commissioner from 1838 to 1840.

He was a clerk of the New York Supreme Court from 1845 to 1847, and published 31 volumes of law reports: On June 23, 1853, he was appointed by Governor Horatio Seymour as a judge of the New York Court of Appeals, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Freeborn G. Jewett.

At the New York state election, 1857, he was re-elected to a full eight-year term, and remained on the bench until the end of 1865.

He was Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals from 1856 to 1857; and, after the resignation of Samuel L. Selden, from July 1862 until the end of his term.

He died on November 5, 1871, in Utica, New York; and was buried at the Forest Hill Cemetery there.