Hayes moved to Illinois after a family tragedy and eventually established a successful law practice in Carmi.

He became a prominent politician in White County, serving two terms in the Illinois House of Representatives and attending the 1848 state constitutional convention.

To support his family, Hayes moved to Louisville, Kentucky to work in a drug store as a clerk.

He studied at the Henry Eddy; future US Representative Samuel S. Marshall was a fellow student there at the time.

He took an interest in politics and canvassed Southern Illinois in favor of Democrat James K. Polk for the 1844 presidential election.

In 1847, Hayes was a delegate to the Illinois State Constitutional Convention of 1847, where he was appointed Chairman of the Committee on Law Reform.

[1] In the winter of 1850, with his second legislature term expired, Hayes moved to Chicago, Illinois to open a law practice.

[citation needed] Hayes died at his home in Chicago on January 28, 1880, and was buried at Rosehill Cemetery.