Robinson began practicing law in Catskill. He was district attorney of Greene County from 1837 to 1839.[1][3] Then he removed to New York City and became a member of Tammany Hall. In 1843, he was appointed master in chancery and then entered a law partnership with David Codwise. He was reappointed as master in chancery in 1846 by Governor Silas Wright and continued until the Courts of Chancery were abolished by the new constitution.[1][2] During this time, he was a contributor to the editorial page of The New York Sun.[1] In 1855, he moved to Chemung County. He joined the Republican Party when it was founded, and was a member of the New York State Assembly (Chemung Co.) in 1860 and 1861.[1][2]
Robinson was New York State Comptroller from 1862 to 1865. In 1861, he was elected on the Union ticket nominated by Republicans and War Democrats. He received a majority of 108,201 votes in the election. In 1863 he was defeated for re-nomination at the Union state convention, but the nominated candidate refused to run, and the Republican State Committee put Robinson back on the ticket, and he was re-elected. After the war he joined the Democratic Party again, and was re-nominated for comptroller on the Democratic ticket, but this time was defeated by the Republican candidate Thomas Hillhouse. After his defeat he resumed the practice of law. In 1871–72 he was a member of the New York State Constitutional Commission.[1][2]
He was a director of the Erie Railroad, and was acting president of the company while the president, Peter H. Watson, was travelling about Europe. In 1875, he was again elected state comptroller, defeating the Republican candidate, former United States TreasurerFrancis E. Spinner.[2] Robinson was a delegate to the 1876 Democratic National Convention and supported Samuel J. Tilden for president. While serving as comptroller, he was elected governor, defeating Edwin D. Morgan by nearly a 40,000 majority. He was in office from 1877 to 1879, the first governor to serve a three-year term after the amendment to the state constitution in 1874. As governor, he opposed Tammany Hall vigorously, which led the Tammany leader John Kelly to have himself nominated for governor by Tammany Hall at the next election in 1879, with the intention to split the Democratic vote, and so defeat Robinson. This happened, and the Republican candidate Alonzo B. Cornell was elected governor with fewer votes than Robinson and Kelly together.[2][4] He called the new New York State Capitol "the public calamity".[4]
Personal life
Robinson married Eunice Osborn, daughter of Bennet Osborn, on October 24, 1833.[1] They had a son, David C.[5] After retiring as governor, he moved to Elmira.[4]
Robinson died from pneumonia on March 23, 1891, at his home on Maple Avenue in Elmira.[1][2] He was buried at the Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira.[6]
^Hough, Franklin Benjamin, compiler (1858). The New York Civil List. Weed, Parsons and Co. p. 374.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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