He studied law, was admitted to the Delaware County bar in 1806 and commenced practice in Chester, Pennsylvania.

[1] Edwards was originally a Federalist and was chairman of the 1812 meeting in Chester, Pennsylvania that denounced Congress for declaring war on Great Britain.

In April 1813, he and Thomas D. Anderson applied to the state and provided their personal funds as bond for military provisions and ammunition to arm a company of Soldiers from Chester during the War of 1812.

[3] In the summer of 1814, when Dr. Samuel Anderson raised the Mifflin Guards, Edwards joined as a private and served as company clerk.

[5] He served as chairman of the United States House Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Navy during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Congresses.