He studied law and was a law clerk in the office of
Salmon P. Chase (later the
Governor of Ohio and
Secretary of the Treasury during the
Lincoln administration). He was
admitted to the bar in 1836 and commenced practice in
Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1851, he served as member of the State constitutional convention and, in 1852, he served as commissioner to codify the laws of Ohio. Groesbeck was elected to succeed
John Scott Harrison as a
Democrat to the
Thirty-fifth Congress, serving one term from March 4, 1857, to March 3, 1859. He was an unsuccessful candidate against
John A. Gurley for reelection in 1858 to the
Thirty-sixth Congress. He served as member of the
Peace Convention of 1861 held in Washington, D.C., in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending war. From 1862 to 1864, he served in the
Ohio State Senate and in 1866, he served as delegate to the Union National Convention at Philadelphia. He was one of
U.S. President Andrew Johnson's counsel in
his impeachment trial in 1868. In 1872, he was nominated for
president of the United States by
Liberal Republicans who were displeased with
Horace Greeley, but his ticket was forgotten during the excitement of the campaign, at the end of which he received one electoral vote for vice-president. He served as delegate to the International Monetary Conference in Paris, France, in 1878. ==Personal life==