1791-1801 – He moved with his mother to Belvidere, New Jersey and thence to Bridgeport, Virginia.

1812 – He engaged in agricultural pursuits and served in the War as captain of a company of Virginia riflemen.

1815-1822 – A member of the State house of delegates.

1823-1827 – Elected as a Jackson Republican to the Eighteenth Congress and as a Jacksonian to the Nineteenth Congress.

         – The chairman of Committee on Expenditures on Public Buildings (Nineteenth Congress).

         – An unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the Twentieth Congress.

1833 – He was elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-second Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Philip Doddridge and served from January 21st to March 3rd.

1835-1841 – Elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-fourth Congress and reelected as a Democrat to the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Congresses.

         – The chairman of Committee on Accounts (Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Congresses).

1844 – A delegate to the Democratic National Convention.

1845-1847 – He was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-ninth Congress.

         – The chairman of Committee on Revolutionary Claims (Twenty-ninth Congress).

         – He was again a member of the State house of delegates.

1850 – He resumed agricultural pursuits and was a delegate to the Virginia constitutional convention.

1851-1852 – Elected Governor of Virginia, serving a short term, reelected and entered upon the duties of the office January 1st, and served four years.