He was a delegate to the 1861 Texas convention that adopted the state's Ordinance of Secession on the eve of the Civil War.
He fought in the Creek War as a major under Andrew Jackson in 1813, and clerked for the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1816.
[1] A supporter of Andrew Jackson, Lea was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1827, defeating fiery anti-Jacksonite Thomas D. Arnold by a vote of 3,688 to 3,316.
He generally opposed federal funding for internal improvements, most notably voting against the 1830 "Hemphill Bill," which would have financed the construction of a road connecting Buffalo and New Orleans.
[9] He voted in favor of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, describing the House debate on the bill as "one of the severest struggles that I have ever witnessed in Congress.
[11] During the mid-1830s, Lea developed an interest in railroad construction, which many East Tennesseans viewed as a solution to the region's isolation.
[13] In 1866, Governor James W. Throckmorton appointed Lea state superintendent of public instruction, though he was later removed for opposing Reconstruction.
[13] Goliad County elected Lea their delegate to the state's 1875 Constitutional Convention, but he declined due to his "extreme age.