[5] Around 1800–1801, Parke and his wife moved to Vincennes, the capital of the Indiana Territory, where he engaged in private law practice 1804.

[1][2] In 1805, Parke was elected as one of the two Knox County representatives to the lower house of Indiana's first territorial legislature, which met at Vincennes on July 20, 1805.

[3][6] Parke, a federalist and Governor Harrison's political ally, was a supporter of slavery and indenturing laws in the territory that were being debated at the time.

[1][2][8] Parke resigned prior to his appointment as a territorial judge and accepting a position on Governor Harrison's staff.

[3] While serving in Congress and in response to requests from his constituents, Parke asked that body to amend the Northwest Ordinance to pass legislation permitting slavery in Indiana, but the effort was unsuccessful.

[citation needed] President Thomas Jefferson appointed Parke as a Judge for the Indiana Territory in 1808.

[4] Parke initially served as a captain of a company of Indiana Light Dragoons and fought at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811.

[4][13] During the move towards statehood, Parke served as one of the forty-three delegates, and one of the five from Knox County, who attended the constitutional convention at Corydon in June 1816.

[11][15] Parke was among the nine-member committee that drafted Article V of the constitution, which outlined the judicial branch of state government.

[20] Parke was appointed as the Monroe County sales agent and became a land speculator in Bloomington, although he never lived there.

[21] In the 1820s, Parke suffered severe financial losses as a result of his involvement with the Vincennes Steam Mill Company.

Parked retired to a modest home in Salem, Indiana, and spent the remainder of his life repaying the debts while he continued to serve as a United States District Court judge.