[2] Maxwell studied law at the University of Virginia, graduating in 1841 and was admitted into the Alabama State Bar in 1843.

[4] Maxwell's exact stance on secession remains unknown to historians, but his support from pro-secessionist state legislators seems to suggest that he was a secessionist.

[2] In November 1861, the Florida Legislature elected him to the Confederate States Senate, a position he would serve in until the end of the American Civil War.

In the Senate, he was a staunch supporter of President Davis' power-grabs, and did not oppose his expanding executive authority.

[2] In addition, Maxwell was named chairman of a special committee tasked with investigating the Confederate Department of the Navy, which was run by his close friend Stephen R. Mallory.

Maxwell formed a law partnership with Mallory in 1866, and resumed his presidency over the Alabama and Florida Railroad.

As a result, Maxwell was appointed to the First Judicial Circuit Court of Florida by Governor George Franklin Drew that year.

[1] In 1887, Governor Edward A. Perry appointed Maxwell as the eighth Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court.