 While in office, he obtained appropriations for every county in his district to get daily mail delivery, and to have the French Broad River dredged from Brevard to Asheville for transportation.He sat on the Committee on Pensions for Veterans of the War of 1812, the Committee on Coinage, and was the four-term Chairman of the Committee on Patents.It's unclear whether Vance declining reelection or lost his seat, in 1884.