He resigned before his term expired, but in 1843 accepted the appointment from President John Tyler as register of the newly established land office at Plattsburg, Missouri.
On January 27, 1849, Governor Austin Augustus King appointed Birch, along with William Barclay Napton and John F. Ryland, to terms on the court.
[2] Birch "felt himself out of his element on the bench", and when another constitutional amendment made the position an elected office, he did not seek re-election in 1851.
He afterward accepted a second appointment as Register of the Plattsburg Land Office, which had become an important post by reason of the large influx of immigration to that garden spot known as the Platte Purchase.
In 1861 he became a member of the Gamble Convention, in which he was a prominent figure by reason of his eloquence and his firm stand in favor of the Union.