Before moving west, he had performed odd jobs, carpentry, and volunteered for military service during the Mexican War, although his unit was never called into battle.

After arriving in Oregon in 1852, he settled the family on a farm in the southern portion of the Willamette Valley in Lane County.

Whiteaker was selected as a Democratic faction's nominee in the first state gubernatorial election, held in June 1858.

He also promoted economic policies favoring home industries, products that Oregonians could make self-sufficiently.

Whiteaker held pro-slavery views which did not sit well with a population that largely opposed slavery in Oregon.

He arrived in Washington on the morning of March 18, in enough time to be promptly seated by Congress and cast his vote.

The trip cost $1500 at the time, an expense widely criticized by the Democrat's political opposition and the media.

[8] In 1880, Whiteaker ran for re-election to Congress, but was defeated by Republican Melvin Clark George by 1,379 votes.

John Whiteaker was called back into politics one more time, in 1885 when President Grover Cleveland appointed him as Oregon's Collector of Revenues at the U.S. Customs House in Portland.