He was born on June 22, 1803, in Lunenburg, Massachusetts, and died on June 22, 1856, in Boston.

[1][2] Cushing wrote one of the earliest works on parliamentary procedure, Rules of Proceeding and Debate in Deliberative Assemblies, commonly known as Cushing's Manual.

[3] It was frequently revised by Cushing.

Afterwards, others continued to revise the manual periodically.

He earned his law degree from Harvard Law School, the only member of the 1826 class.