He attended public schools and worked as a printer's apprentice, a journalist and as a member of the staff of the Centre County Democrat newspaper under his elder brother John Bigler who later became the governor of California.

[2] In 1833, at the urging of his friends, including future Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin,[3] Bigler founded his own political newspaper, the Clearfield Democrat which supported Jacksonian democracy.

Between 1845 and 1850, his lumber business became the largest producer of building supplies on the West branch of the Susquehanna River, earning him the nickname "The Clearfield Raftsman".

[2] He served as a Jackson Democrat member of the Pennsylvania Senate for the 20th district from 1841 to 1846, including as Speaker from 1845 to 1846.

He played a key role in the abolition of imprisonment for debt in Pennsylvania and the development of two insane asylums in Philadelphia and Harrisburg.

[9] In 1855, he was defeated for re-election in a landslide by James Pollock, the candidate of the newly formed Republican Party.