Gardner was elected as a Democratic-Republican Party to the Eleventh Congress (March 4, 1809 – March 3, 1811).
He resumed his former business pursuits.
He was the bearer of a petition from the citizens of Nantucket to Congress for tax relief in 1813.
He died in Nantucket, Massachusetts, March 22, 1832.
He was interred in Friends Burying Ground.