[5][6][7] When about twenty, this Henry Bedinger moved to the Jefferson county seat, Charles Town, and began reading law under the supervision of his brother-in-law William Lucas.
[11] In 1844, Bedinger running as a Democrat, defeated his legal mentor, and won a seat in the United States House of Representatives.
While in Congress, Bedinger denounced Whig efforts to restrict voting by Irish and German immigrants, such as his family and many neighbors.
Furthermore, he endorsed the Walker Tariff of 1846 that reduced duties on some imported goods, as well as applauded Texas's annexation and admission as a slave state.
Although Bedinger supported President James K. Polk's expansionist policy in the Pacific Northwest, he advised against confronting Great Britain concerning the Oregon Territory.
The following year he received a promotion (and salary increase) to minister plenipotiary, as he had become a favorite at the court of King Frederick VII and was engaged in negotiation for the abolition of the Danish Sound Dues, a toll exacted on all ships navigating between the North Sea and Baltic Sea.
Not long after his resignation as a diplomat, Bedinger was named superintendent of the United States armory at Harpers Ferry, not far from his Shepherdstown home.