[1] He was admitted to the bar and entered private practice in Red Oak, Iowa from 1870 to 1874.

[1] In August 1898, McPherson defeated incumbent congressman Alva L. Hager and two others in the race for the Republican nomination in Iowa's 9th congressional district.

For several days, no candidate received the required number of votes, but McPherson prevailed on the 618th ballot, after Hager threw his support to him.

[2] McPherson was nominated by President William McKinley on April 3, 1900, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa vacated by Judge John Simson Woolson.

[2] In McPherson's final year on the bench, he upheld the constitutionality of Iowa's workers' compensation statute against an attack by an employer alleging that it violated due process.