After traveling and studying around
Europe, Preston studied law at the
University of Edinburgh in
Scotland. He sailed back to the States in 1819 and was admitted to the bar of Virginia in 1820. He practiced law there for two years. He then moved to
Columbia, South Carolina in 1822 and ran unsuccessfully for election to the Twenty-Second Congress. He was, however, elected to the
South Carolina House of Representatives and served from 1828 to 1834. He was then elected in 1833 as a Nullifier to the
United States Senate to fill the vacancy after the resignation of
Stephen D. Miller. During his first year in the Senate, his oratorical gifts led the Whig leadership to give him a prominent role in the effort to
censure Andrew Jackson, elevating Preston "far in advance of most of his colleagues, and side by side with
Clay,
Webster,
Calhoun, and
Clayton." Preston was then reelected as a
Whig in 1837 and served until his resignation on November 29, 1842. During that time he served as the chairman for the Committee on the Library and the Committee on Military Affairs. Preston was the only Whig to serve as a senator from South Carolina. After his resignation, Preston returned to practicing law and served as president of
South Carolina College from 1845 until 1851, when he resigned due to poor health. He died in Columbia, South Carolina. He was buried in the
Trinity Episcopal Churchyard. He is the namesake of
Lake Preston, in South Dakota. Preston College at the University of South Carolina is named in his honor; in July 2021, the university's Presidential Commission on University History recommended renaming the college. ==Notes==