[2] Minor taught school for five years while he studied law under his father, a former Connecticut legislator.

Legislation was passed that deprived suffrage to men unable to read the state constitution.

In 1864, Minor was a delegate from Connecticut to the Republican National Convention, which assembled at Baltimore in June of that year.

He voted with his delegation for Abraham Lincoln for president and Andrew Johnson for vice-president of the United States.

In 1868, he was appointed judge on the Connecticut Superior Court, and served in that position until 1873 when he resigned his judgeship and returned to his private law practice.