 He was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in 1822, 1823, and 1825 and 1840.He obtained from the Ohio Legislature in 1826 the first charter granted to a railroad in the United States—the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad (later the Sandusky, Dayton and Cincinnati railroad)—and ground was broken for it in 1832.He was elected to represent Ohio's 14th congressional district in the 22nd United States Congress in 1831 as an anti-Jacksonian candidate.