In 1765, he graduated from Yale College and after being a school teacher in Dedham and a merchant – and occasionally appearing in court as a lawyer – he decided to enter the ministry.

For a few months in 1776, he was chaplain to the 11th Massachusetts Regiment commanded by Colonel Ebenezer Francis, raised for the defense of Boston.

In 1784 a geological party, headed by Manasseh Cutler, named the highest peak in the northeast Mount Washington.

[4] On March 1, 1786, Cutler attended a meeting at the Bunch of Grapes Tavern with Rufus Putnam, Benjamin Tupper, and Samuel Holden Parsons to form the Ohio Company of Associates, which led to a contract being drawn up, later approved by the Confederation Congress, that sold about five percent of what was to become the State of Ohio to this group of Revolutionary War Veterans.

In order to smooth passage of the Northwest Ordinance, Cutler influenced and won the votes of key congressmen by making them partners in his land company [citation needed].

He is considered a founder of Ohio University and the National Historic Landmark Cutler Hall on that campus is named in his honor.