During the American Revolutionary War, White facilitated the release of Quaker and Hessian civilian prisoners held by patriots.
[2][9][11][12] White remained in Britain and completed his law studies during what Virginians called the French and Indian War.
[13] White returned to Virginia in 1765, where he was admitted to the bar, began practicing law and became a prominent lawyer in the Shenandoah Valley region with a "national reputation".
[14][15] Hampshire County voters elected as one of their two (part-time) representatives to the House of Burgesses in Williamsburg in 1772, but he only served a year of what became a two-year term, resigning in 1773 in order to accept a position as deputy king's attorney, and replaced by Joseph Neville.
[8] White was an eloquent public speaker, and due to his Scottish Presbyterian background, he strongly opposed the colonial government's support for the Church of England in Virginia.
[8] According to historians Hu Maxwell and Howard Llewellyn Swisher, White is the first man in what is now the United States to present a resolution to a legislature regarding the freedom of religion.
[3][14] According to tradition, White facilitated the release of Quaker and Hessian civilian prisoners held by American Revolutionary patriots in a building in the southern part of Winchester.
[19][20] White successfully secured their release upon the condition that they affirm that "they would henceforth live by their creed and be at peace with all men.
"[15][19] From 1782 to 1786, White was elected annually and served in the Virginia House of Delegates, representing Frederick County (Winchester being the county seat) alongside Charles Mynn Thruston (three times, although White only arrived a month after the Virginia General Assembly began its first legislative session), and alongside James Wood in the 1784–1785 term.
[2][8][3][14] White is believed to have used the pseudonym "An Independent Freeholder" to author a series of essays written in support of the Constitution's ratification.
[24][25] After his congressional service, White served two additional terms in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1799 to 1801, again representing Berkeley County, where he owned a significant amount of land.
[30] Following the adjournment of the 2nd United States Congress, and the completion of his term in 1793, White retired from public life and went to his estate, "Woodville", in Frederick County near Winchester.
[33] On either June 2 or November 5, 1773, White purchased the 260 acres (1.1 km2) estate of Henry Heth, who had foreclosed on his mortgage agreement with William McMachen.
[36] White renamed the property "Woodville", presumably after his wife Elizabeth's family, and it remained his primary residence until his death in 1804.
[32] In his book, The History of the Virginia Federal Convention of 1788 (1891), Virginia historian Hugh Blair Grigsby remarked of White, "Perhaps no member of the able and patriotic delegation which the West contributed to our early councils exerted a greater influence in moulding public opinion, especially during the period embraced by the treaty of peace with Great Britain and by the adoption of the Federal Constitution, than Alexander White, of Frederick.