He broke with his sponsors at Tammany Hall, and they produced convincing evidence that Sulzer had falsified his sworn statement of campaign expenditures.

[2] He was the second in a family of eight children, and his siblings included Charles August Sulzer, who pursued a successful political career in Alaska.

Even before beginning his law practice, he was a member of the Tammany Hall political machine serving as a popular stump speaker.

Sulzer himself declared during the term "[A]ll legislation came from Tammany Hall and was dictated by that great statesmen, Richard Croker.

In the Sixty-second United States Congress he chaired the Committee on Foreign Affairs, from which he proposed a resolution praising the Revolution of 1911.

He also opposed United States intervention in the Mexican Revolution, and proposed a unanimously supported bill to annul the Treaty of 1832 with Russia due to a Russian refusal to recognize the passports of Jewish-Americans.

[8] Sulzer during his time in Congress supported numerous Progressive Era goals in terms of popular democracy and efficiency.

[10] For the next six elections Sulzer was continually rejected for the Democratic nomination for governor, losing to Tammany supported politicians such as William Randolph Hearst and John Alden Dix.

This in turn prompted a fight in the Democrats, as reformers disappointed in Governor Dix's support for Tammany moved to oust him from contention.

On taking office as governor, Sulzer in an initial move announced the renaming of the Executive Mansion "The People's House".

The campaign for direct primaries would win him the support of Theodore Roosevelt and his Progressives, but also moved Tammany to stand firmly against him.

[12] Critics claimed that Sulzer was using the direct primary issue to build his own machine or to co-opt Tammany and assume control of it from Murphy, based on his populist appeal.

The Machine delegates, led by Speaker Al Smith followed the orders of Murphy, while the Independent Democrats, mostly from rural Upstate New York opposed the bill fearing that Open primaries would silence their influence and power against the weight of the urban vote.

One of the appointments that Sulzer refused to make was that of James E. Gaffney, owner of the 1914 "Miracle" Braves, to State Commissioner of Highways.

In the summer of 1913 this committee, using Tammany-provided information,[citation needed] accused Sulzer of diverting campaign contributions to purchase stocks for himself and perjuring himself under oath.

On August 11, 1913, the Frawley committee announced its findings to the state legislature, and moves began towards impeachment,[clarification needed] managed by Tammany Hall's legislative leaders, Al Smith and Robert Wagner.

[17] Over the next two days, Sulzer attempted to obstruct the impeachment at every turn but was powerless to stop it, as Smith and Wagner maintained control of their respective houses.

"[25] However, Sulzer found support in the Prohibition Party which, on the basis of a speech he gave denouncing rum, nominated him for governor in 1914.

He wrote and spoke in support of the Baháʼí Faith from the 1920s occasionally after having met ʻAbdu'l-Bahá during his visit including the United States in 1912.