Tucker was born in Bermuda, and educated at College of William & Mary, where he studied law under St. George Tucker. After practicing law in Richmond, Virginia he moved to Lynchburg, Virginia. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1819 to 1825, representing Virginia in the 16th, 17th, and 18th United States Congresses. In 1827 he wrote the satire A Voyage to the Moon using the pseudonym "Joseph Atterley." It is considered by some to be the first American work of science fiction.

Tucker was appointed by Thomas Jefferson to be Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Virginia. In 1845 he resigned from the University and moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He died from injuries sustained when a large bale of cotton being loaded on a ship in Mobile Bay fell on his head. After his injury he was removed to Albemarle County, Virginia, where he died on April 10, 1861. He is buried at the University of Virginia Cemetery.

• Letters on the Conspiracy of Slaves in Virginia (Richmond, 1800)
• Letters on the Roanoke Navigation (1811)
• Recollections of Eleanor Rosalie Tucker (Lynchburg, 1819)
• Essays on Subjects of Taste, Morals, and National Policy, under the pen-name “A Citizen of Virginia” (Georgetown, 1822)
• This was reprinted in England and translated into German.
• Principles of Rent, Wages, and Profits (Philadelphia, 1837)
• Public Discourse on the Literature of the United States (Charlottesville, 1837)
• Life of Thomas Jefferson, with Parts of his Correspondence (Philadelphia and London, 1837)
• The Theory of Money and Banks Investigated (Boston, 1839)
• Essay on Cause and Effect (Philadelphia, 1842)
• Essay on the Association of Ideas (1843)
• Public Discourse on the Dangers most Threatening to the United States (Washington, 1843)
• Progress of the United, States in Population and Wealth in Fifty Years (New York, 1843)
• Memoir of the Life and Character of Dr. John P. Emmet (Philadelphia, 1845)
• Correspondence with Alexander H. Everett on Political Economy (1845)
• Banks or No Banks (New York, 1857)
• Essays, Moral and Philosophical (1860)

He contributed to many newspapers and magazines, and wrote some of the papers in William Wirt's British Spy, signing them “An Enquirer.”