When the War of 1812 Embargo Act ruined his business, Foot returned to his father's farm in Cheshire in 1813, engaged in agricultural pursuits and politics.

He was elected by the General Assembly to the U.S. Senate as an Adams' man (later Anti-Jacksonian) within the splintering Democratic Republican Party.

[2] In the Senate he is most noted for the "Foot Resolution" of December 29, 1829 to limit the sale of public lands.

It was during debate on this resolution that Daniel Webster gave his "Liberty and Union, one and inseparable, now and forever" speech.

He was elected to the Twenty-third Congress, and served from March 4, 1833, to May 9, 1834,[3] when he resigned to become Governor of Connecticut, a position he held in 1834 and 1835.