Exclusion Crisis
Oxenden was elected Member of Parliament for Winchelsea as a recruiter to the Long Parliament in 1645. He was elected MP for Kent in the First Protectorate Parliament of 1654 and in the Second Protectorate Parliament in 1656. In 1660 he was elected MP for Sandwich in the Convention Parliament. He was created Baronet in on 6 May 1678. During the Exclusion Crisis he was generally regarded as an opponent of the Crown.