Felch moved to Monroe, Michigan, in 1833 and continued the practice of law. In 1835 he was the aid-de-camp to General Joseph Brown during the mustering of troops for the Ohio–Michigan Boundary Dispute (the Toledo War). He was elected three times to the Michigan State House of Representatives, serving from 1835 to 1837. He was appointed state bank commissioner in 1838 and resigned in 1839. As bank commissioner, he did much to expose frauds which had been made possible by a general wildcat banking law which he had opposed, and which was afterward declared unconstitutional by the Michigan Supreme Court.[1] He was state auditor general for a few weeks in 1842 before being appointed associate justice of the Michigan Supreme Court in 1842, where he served until his resignation in 1845, after being elected governor. He served as Governor of Michigan from 1846 to 1847 and during those fourteen months, state statutes were amended and the state capital was relocated to Lansing.
Felch resigned as governor on March 3, 1847, after being elected by the Michigan legislature as a Democrat to the United States Senate. He served in the 30th, 31st and 32nd Congresses, from March 4, 1847 to March 3, 1853. In the U.S. Senate, he was chairman of the committee on public lands for four years.[1]
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