 He rose in Tammany Hall through the 1840s and eventually ran for Congress but lost.He was elected to New York City's Board of Aldermen to represent the fourteenth ward in 1858 and served until 1862, and, later in 1876, was elected again to the Eighth District for one term.For many years he was on Tammany Hall's General Committee, was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Charleston and an elector on the Stephen Douglas ticket both in 1860.