in addition to serving in congress and the pennsylvania state legislature, buckalew was commissioner to exchange ratifications of a treaty with paraguay in 1854; chairman of the democratic state committee in 1857; appointed one of the commissioners to revise the penal code of pennsylvania in 1857; minister resident to the republic of ecuador 1858-1861; unsuccessful candidate for governor of pennsylvania in 1872; and a delegate to the pennsylvania constitutional convention of 1873.