After his term as governor, he became a congressman, then chairman of the Indiana Whig party before becoming a state judge, a position he held until his death.

He graduated from West Point in 1821 and served as a lieutenant of artillery and taught mathematics at the school, but resigned his commission after about a year in the service.

In 1836, after the death of his first wife, David married Zerelda Gray Sanders, a leader in the temperance movement, and together they had six children.

As Lieutenant Governor he led the debate in the state senate to create the Bank of Indiana and gained a reputation as a skilled orator.

Indiana had been enjoying a period of internal improvements of roads and canals, but nearly all such projects ended during this financial crisis.

Wallace delivered an address to the General Assembly to inform them that the works were almost entirely worthless in their present condition and the state's credit had been exhausted.

[7] The last of the Indian removals in Indiana occurred during Wallace's term, and only the few unwilling to leave voluntarily remained in the state.

Senator John Tipton to remove the band of 859 Potawatomi from the vicinity of Plymouth, Indiana, and send them to the Kansas Territory.

[9] After his term as governor, Wallace was elected in 1841 to the U.S. House of Representatives from the Indianapolis district, defeating Nathan B. Palmer.

While in Congress he supported federal spending on the development of the telegraph, for which he was ridiculed by his opponents, but was later vindicated by the success of the technology.

[9] Wallace died suddenly, without having been ill, on September 4, 1859, in Indianapolis, Indiana and is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery.