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History and Government—Congressional Biographies—New YorkWRIGHT, Silas, Jr.
(1795—1847)
Senate Years of Service:
1833-1844
Party:
Jacksonian; Democrat
WRIGHT, Silas, Jr., a Representative and a Senator from New York; born in Amherst, Mass., May 24, 1795; moved with his father to Wyebridge, Vt., in 1796; graduated from Middlebury (Vt.) College in 1815; moved to Sandy Hill, Washington County, N.Y., in 1816; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1819 and commenced practice in Canton, St. Lawrence County, N.Y.; surrogate of St. Lawrence County 1821-1824; member, State senate 1824-1827; appointed brigadier general of State militia in 1827; elected to the Twentieth Congress and served from March 4, 1827, to February 16, 1829, when he resigned; successfully contested the election of George Fisher to the Twenty-first Congress, but declined to qualify; comptroller of the State of New York 1829-1833; elected to the United States Senate in 1833 as a Jacksonian (later Democrat) to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of William L. Marcy; reelected in 1837 and served from January 4, 1833, to November 26, 1844, when he resigned, having been elected Governor; chairman, Committee on Finance (Twenty-fourth through Twenty-sixth Congresses); declined the Democratic nomination for Vice President of the United States in 1844; Governor of New York 1844-1846; unsuccessful candidate for reelection; died in Canton, N.Y., August 27, 1847; interment in Silas Wright Cemetery (formerly Old Canton) in Canton, New York.
Bibliography
American National Biography
; Dictionary of American Biography
; Chancelloor, William E. A Life of Silas Wright, 1795-1847
. New York: W.C. O’Donnell, Jr., 1913; Garraty, John. Silas Wright
. 1949. Reprint. New York: AMS Press, 1970.
Chancellor, William Estabrook. A Life of Silas Wright, 1795-1847: United States Senator from New York 1833-1844, Governor of the State of New York 1844-1846.
New York: W.C. O’Donnell, Jr., 1913.
Garraty, John Arthur. Silas Wright
. 1949. Reprint. New York: AMS Press, 1970.
Gillet, Ransom Hooker. The Life and Times of Silas Wright
. 2 vols. Albany: Argus Co., 1874.
Hammond, Jabez Delano. Life and Times of Silas Wright
. New York: A.S. Barnes & Co., 1848.
Jenkins, John Stillwell. The Life of Silas Wright
. Auburn: J.E. Beardsley, 1847.
Kennedy, Mary C. “Silas Wright and New York Politics, 1795-1847.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Chicago, 1950.
Mallam, William D. Silas Wright—The Farmer Statesman
. Canton, NY: St. Lawrence County Historical Association at the Silas Wright Museum, 1994. Originally published in the St. Lawrence County Historical Association Quarterly
(October 1982): as “Silas Wright of Lawrence County.”
Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present
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