Born near Georgetown, Kentucky, he attended the common schools and graduated from Transylvania University at Lexington.

He studied law, and was admitted to the bar and began practice in Carmi, Illinois in 1818.

He was a judge of the Illinois Supreme Court, and served as a general in the State militia.

He was elected in 1830 as a Jacksonian (later a Democrat) to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John McLean.

While in the Senate, he was chairman of the Committee on Engrossed Bills (Twenty-second Congress) and a member of the Committees on Militia (Twenty-second through Twenty-fourth Congresses) and Post Office and Post Roads (Twenty-fourth through Twenty-sixth Congresses).