[1] An ardent strict constructionist and lifelong states' rights advocate, White was one of President Jackson's most trusted allies in Congress in the late 1820s and early 1830s.

[2]: 246  White fought against the national bank, tariffs, and the use of federal funds for internal improvements,[2]: 31, 76–77  and led efforts in the Senate to pass the Indian Removal Act of 1830.

[2]: 239 Suspicious of the growing power of the presidency, White began to distance himself from Jackson in the mid-1830s, and realigned himself with Henry Clay and the burgeoning Whig Party.

[2]: 251–2  He was eventually forced out of the Senate when Jackson's allies, led by James K. Polk, gained control of the Tennessee state legislature and demanded his resignation.

[1] James, a Revolutionary War veteran, moved his family to the Tennessee frontier in the 1780s, and played an active role in the failed State of Franklin.

Hugh Lawson White worked as Blount's personal secretary,[1] and was tutored by early Knoxville minister and educator, Samuel Carrick.

[6] In 1821, President James Monroe appointed White to a commission to settle claims against Spain, following the Adams-Onís Treaty in which that nation sold Florida to the United States.

[1] White spearheaded the Southern states' opposition to sending delegates to 1826 Congress of Panama, which was a general gathering of various nations in the Western Hemisphere, many of which had declared their independence from Spain and abolished slavery.

[2]: 153–4  The act called for the relocation of the remaining Native American tribes in the southeastern United States to territories west of the Mississippi River and would culminate in the so-called Trail of Tears.

In an 1836 speech, White described himself as a "strict constructionist,"[2]: 209  arguing that the federal government could not pass any laws outside its powers specifically stated in the Constitution.

[2]: 199 Like most Southern senators, White opposed the Tariff of 1828, which placed a high tax on goods imported from overseas to protect growing northern industries.

White argued that while the federal government had the power to impose tariffs, it should only do so when it benefited the nation as a whole, and not merely one section (i.e., the North) at the expense of another (i.e., the agrarian South, which relied on trade with England).

[2]: 356  In spite of this, White won Tennessee, as well as Georgia, giving him 26 electoral votes, the third highest total behind Van Buren's 170 and Harrison's 73.

[2]: 262  White stood by his accusations and blasted Jackson for making "useless expenditures" of public money,[2]: 347  and increasing the power of the presidency.

"[12] His congressional colleague, Henry Wise, later wrote that White's "patriotism and firmness" as the Senate's president pro tempore was key to resolving the Nullification Crisis.

[2]: 239–240   Felix Grundy recalled that White once departed Knoxville in the middle of a driving snowstorm to ensure he made it to Washington in time for the Senate's fall session.