He was appointed justice of the peace in 1818 and was elected a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, serving from 1821 to 1824.
He studied law, was admitted to the bar on November 17, 1829, and commenced practice in Norristown, Pennsylvania.
He served as the chairman of the United States House Committee on Private Land Claims during the Twenty-first Congress.
[1] At the 1838 PA Constitutional Convention, he proposed an amendment inserting the word "white" into the suffrage law, which passed, thus disenfranchising African Americans in Pennsylvania.
He edited the Register and was appointed by the State assembly as chairman of a commission to improve the town of Norristown.