[6] He pursued classical studies in England and France, returned to United States and graduated from Harvard University in 1810.

[2] After the war, he opened a commission house in New York City with his father-in-law, Archibald Gracie, under the name James G. King and Company.

"[2] While in Liverpool, he met and eventually became a close friend of John Jacob Astor (later serving as an executor of his will), who offered him the presidency of the American Fur Company, which King declined.

He served until 1837, when by his visit to London he secured the loan to American bankers of $1,000,000 (~$28 million in 2023) from the governors of the Bank of England.

[7] While in Congress, he was a member of the Committee of Commerce,[9] and he opposed the repeal of the Missouri Compromise and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

Together, they were the parents of eleven children, many of whom married into prominent colonial families, including:[2] King died of a "congestion of the lungs" on October 3, 1853, at his country place, "Highwood," near Weehawken, New Jersey,[9] which he had purchased in 1832.