His father, who was justice of the peace for Botetourt County, Virginia, died when John Mathews was aged 4.
A Federalist, he was a staunch opponent to the Democratic-Republican Virginia Resolutions authored by James Madison, which were passed in 1798 order to give states the right and the duty to declare unconstitutional any acts of the United States Congress that were not authorized by the Constitution.
The Resolutions, written in secret, were largely a response to the 1798 federal Alien and Sedition Acts which raised residency requirements for United States citizenship from 5 to 14 years and authorized the President to deport aliens, and permitted their arrest, imprisonment, and deportation during wartime.
In 1835, construction of the James River and Kanawha Canal resumed under Chief Engineer Benjamin Wright.
[5] Also in 1831 Mathews was elected clerk of court for Greenbrier County, and in that position he remained until his death in November, 1849.