Isaac Edwards arrived in North Carolina by 1765, when he became the personal secretary of Governor William Tryon. A lawyer, Edwards made his home in Hillsborough, where he conducted business on the governor's behalf before the local court there. In 1768 Governor Tryon sent Edwards to quell a riot in a prelude to the War of Regulation. Edwards worked as Tryon's secretary until he resigned on May 14, 1771. Edwards later served as a secretary for Governor Josiah Martin, but it was not long before his political ideals moved away from royalism altogether. He represented New Bern at the First Provincial Congress in 1774. Edwards died in New Bern in January 1775.