 Attending the Missouri State Constitutional Convention in 1875, Broadhead worked closely on the Whisky Ring bribery cases in 1876.In 1878 he was chosen as the president of the new American Bar Association.Between 1883 and 1885 Broadhead represented Missouri in the House of Representatives as a Democrat, as well as being a member of the Judiciary Committee, as special commissioner to France and later minister to Switzerland in 1885 and 1893 until 1897.