Uhland studied law and classical and medieval literature at the University of Tübingen. While in Tübingen he wrote his first poems, which were published in Vaterländische Gedichte (1815; “Fatherland Poems”). It was the first of some 50 editions of the work issued during his lifetime. The collection, which was inspired by the contemporary political situation in Germany, reflected both his serious study of folklore and his ability to create ballads in the folk style.

From 1812 to 1814 Uhland served as secretary in the Ministry of Justice at Stuttgart. He then practiced law and began to support the struggle for parliamentary democracy in Württemberg. From 1819 to 1827 he represented Tübingen in the Ständeversammlung (parliament), and from 1826 to 1829 he represented Stuttgart. In 1829 Uhland was appointed professor at Tübingen, but, when he was refused leave of absence by the university to sit as a liberal in the Landtag (provincial diet), he resigned the professorship (1833). In 1848 he was a member of the German National Assembly in Frankfurt.

The spirit of German Romanticism and nationalism inspired much of Uhland's poetry, as did his political career and his researches into the literary heritage of Germany. His poetry utilizes the classical form developed by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von) and Friedrich von Schiller (Schiller, Friedrich von), but his naive, precise, and graceful style is uniquely his own.