# Silas Wright *Silas Wright (1795–1847) was a New York Democratic politician, U.S. Senator, and Governor of New York, for whom Wright County, Minnesota is named.* Silas Wright Jr. (1795–1847) was a New York lawyer who held town, county, state and federal office.[^1] He sat in the [[United States House of Representatives]] in the 20th Congress, was New York State Comptroller, represented New York in the U.S. Senate from 1833 to 1844, and became the fourteenth Governor of New York.[^2][^3] He belonged to the Albany Regency, the circle of Martin Van Buren's allies that directed the [[Democratic Party (United States)]] in New York from the 1820s.[^3] [[Wright County, Minnesota]], established in 1855, is named for him.[^4] The record does not establish any connection between Wright and [[Minnesota Territory]] beyond the county's name. The claim that he never visited Minnesota is unverified and is not asserted here.[^1][^2] His recorded acts in office include Senate votes on slavery-related petitions and mail.[^5] As governor he vetoed a canal appropriation, and during the Anti-Rent War he declared a state of insurrection in Delaware County.[^6] ## Who Wright was born on May 24, 1795, in Amherst, Massachusetts.[^3] His parents were Captain Silas Wright (1760–1843), a tanner and shoemaker, and Eleanor (Goodale) Wright (1762–1846). They had nine children and in 1796 moved to a farm on Otter Creek in Weybridge, Vermont.[^7] His father led a militia company in the War of 1812 and fought at the Battle of Plattsburgh. He was also an early Democratic-Republican and served in the Vermont House of Representatives.[^7] The younger Wright qualified as a teacher at thirteen and taught in Rutland and Addison Counties between 1808 and 1810.[^7] He entered Middlebury College in 1811 and took a Bachelor of Arts there in 1815.[^7] He read law at Sandy Hill, New York, first under Henry C. Martindale and then under Roger Skinner. Through Skinner he came to know Van Buren and the Albany Regency. He was admitted to the bar in 1819.[^7] Medad Moody, a friend of the family from Weybridge, persuaded Wright to settle in Canton, New York.[^8] In 1833 Wright married Moody's daughter, Clarissa Moody (1804–1870); the couple had no children.[^9] Wright entered politics as a Democratic-Republican.[^8] He later belonged to Van Buren's Bucktail supporters, who became known as Jacksonians and then adopted the name Democrats.[^5] ## What **Local and militia office.** In Canton, Wright served as justice of the peace, overseer of roads, town clerk, school inspector and, for several years, postmaster. From 1821 to 1824 he held the post of St. Lawrence County surrogate.[^8] Canton's militia company elected him captain in 1822. He commanded the 7th Regiment as a major from 1825 and was made colonel in 1826. In 1827 the officers of the 49th Brigade elected him their commander, which made him a brigadier general. He resigned in 1829 on becoming comptroller.[^10] **State Senate.** The St. Lawrence County Democratic-Republican convention nominated Wright for the State Senate in 1823, and he won a four-year term. He took his seat in January 1824.[^11] In the Senate he joined the Regency's effort to remove DeWitt Clinton from the Erie Canal Commission.[^11] In 1826 the press accused Senator Jasper Ward of corruption over the incorporation of two insurance companies. Wright chaired the committee that examined the charges. It found most of them false but recommended Ward's expulsion; Ward resigned.[^11] **House of Representatives.** Wright and his running mate Rudolph Bunner won New York's two-member 20th District in 1826 as Bucktails. Wright served from March 4, 1827, to February 16, 1829.[^12] He backed the protectionist Tariff of 1828 and later argued for low tariffs "for revenue only".[^12] In 1828 he appeared to lose reelection to George Fisher, who was seated. The contest was decided in Wright's favor on February 5, 1830, but Wright, by then comptroller, declined to qualify for the seat.[^12] **Comptroller.** In January 1829 the legislature chose Wright by joint ballot to succeed William L. Marcy as comptroller. The office made him an ex officio member of the canal commission.[^13] He argued for paying for canal maintenance and construction out of available funds rather than borrowing. He was reelected in February 1832 and resigned on January 4, 1833, on his election to the U.S. Senate.[^13] **U.S. Senate.** Wright filled the Senate vacancy left by Marcy's resignation and was reelected in 1837. He chaired the Finance Committee from 1836 to 1841.[^5] He supported the compromise Tariff of 1833 and voted for the Tariff of 1842.[^5] He defended Andrew Jackson's removal of federal deposits from the Second Bank of the United States and opposed its recharter. He also backed Van Buren's Independent Treasury.[^5] On slavery-related measures, his votes went in different directions: - He voted against John C. Calhoun's motion to stop receiving petitions for abolition in the District of Columbia.[^5] - He voted to exclude anti-slavery materials from the mail in slave-holding states.[^5] - In 1838 he opposed William Cabell Rives' resolution on slavery in the federal territories.[^5] Under President John Tyler he voted against the Texas annexation treaty. In 1844 he declined Tyler's offer of a Supreme Court seat.[^5] **1844 convention.** At the 1844 Democratic convention Wright supported Van Buren and asked to be withdrawn from consideration as a compromise candidate.[^14] After James K. Polk took the presidential nomination, delegates nominated Wright for vice president. Informed by telegraph, he declined, and George M. Dallas was nominated instead.[^14] Wright then campaigned for the Polk–Dallas ticket.[^14] **Governor.** The state Democratic convention nominated Wright for governor in August 1844, and he defeated Whig nominee Millard Fillmore.[^6] In office he vetoed a canal appropriation he judged excessive.[^6] In the Anti-Rent War he sided with the patroon landlords. He declared a state of insurrection in Delaware County and sent in the militia.[^6] In 1846 he lost reelection to Whig John Young, whom the anti-rent tenants supported.[^6] ## When - 1795, May 24: born in Amherst, Massachusetts.[^3] - 1815: graduated from Middlebury College.[^7] - 1819: admitted to the bar.[^7] - 1827–1829: U.S. House of Representatives.[^12] - 1829–1833: New York State Comptroller.[^13] - 1833–1844: U.S. Senator from New York.[^2] Wikipedia gives the exact span as January 4, 1833, to November 26, 1844.[^5] - Governor of New York: the U.S. House biographical record gives the term as 1844–1846.[^2] Wikipedia gives January 1845 as the date he took office after his 1844 election.[^6] - 1847, August 27: collapsed at the Canton post office and died shortly after reaching home. He was buried at Old Canton Cemetery.[^15] His supporters had been planning to put him forward in the 1848 presidential election.[^15] ## Where Wright was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, grew up in Weybridge, Vermont, and made his career from Canton, New York.[^7][^8] The University of Vermont conferred an honorary LL.D. on him in 1838.[^16] Weybridge raised a monument to him in 1848, with sculptures by Erastus Dow Palmer.[^16] He is the namesake of: - Wright County, Missouri, and Wright County, Minnesota; - the town of Wright in Schoharie County, New York; - Wright Peak in North Elba, New York.[^16] His house at 3 East Main Street in Canton is a museum and the home of the St. Lawrence County Historical Association.[^16] ## In the at-issue record The project's at-issue record (entry AI-Humphrey-051) pairs the founding of Wright County with a March 2025 White House presidential action, *Protecting America's Bank Account Against Fraud, Waste, and Abuse*.[^17] According to the entry, the county was organized on February 20, 1855, and Monticello was its first seat. The entry also states that Buffalo obtained the seat by offering a courthouse rent-free for five years.[^18] The project pairs the two as an early instance of a public siting decision obtained through a lease concession.[^17][^18] The entry rests on a single local-newspaper source. The record establishes the reported offer; it does not establish the deliberations that led to the move. ## In the Minnesota record ### Who - Wright County was named for Silas Wright; the Wikipedia county article cites Warren Upham's *Minnesota Geographic Names* (1920), p. 586, for the naming.[^4] ### When - The county was established in 1855.[^4] The at-issue entry, sourced to the *Annandale Advocate*, gives the organization date as February 20, 1855.[^18] ### Where - The county covers 714 square miles (661 land, 53 water) and has a [[Mississippi River]] boundary.[^4] - Its first county seat was [[Monticello]].[^18] - The Wikipedia county article dates the move of the seat to [[Buffalo]] to 1868, while the at-issue entry, sourced to the *Annandale Advocate*, gives 1867.[^4][^18] ## Notes [^1]: Library of Congress, *Catalog record, item 13018764* (n.d.). Establishes the biography of Silas Wright (1795–1847). The project's note on this record states that the claim that Wright never visited Minnesota is unverified and not asserted. https://www.loc.gov/item/13018764/ [^2]: U.S. House of Representatives, Office of the Historian, *WRIGHT, Silas, Jr. (W000770)* (n.d.). Biographical record: U.S. Senator from New York 1833–1844, Governor of New York 1844–1846. https://history.house.gov/People/Listing/W/WRIGHT,-Silas,-Jr--(W000770 [^3]: Wikipedia contributors, *Silas Wright*, lead section (rev. 1379665879, retrieved 2026-10-27). Birth date, Albany Regency membership, offices held, fourteenth governor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silas_Wright [^4]: Wikipedia contributors, *Wright County, Minnesota* (n.d.). Area, Mississippi River boundary, establishment in 1855, naming for Silas Wright (citing Upham, 1920, p. 586), seat change to Buffalo in 1868. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_County,_Minnesota [^5]: Wikipedia contributors, *Silas Wright*, "U.S. Senator" (rev. 1379665879, retrieved 2026-10-27). Senate service dates, Finance Committee chairmanship, tariff, bank and slavery votes, Texas treaty vote, Supreme Court offer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silas_Wright [^6]: Wikipedia contributors, *Silas Wright*, "Governor" (rev. 1379665879, retrieved 2026-10-27). 1844 nomination and election, canal veto, Anti-Rent War insurrection declaration, 1846 defeat. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silas_Wright [^7]: Wikipedia contributors, *Silas Wright*, "Early life" (rev. 1379665879, retrieved 2026-10-27). Parents, Weybridge move, schooling, Middlebury degree, legal training, bar admission. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silas_Wright [^8]: Wikipedia contributors, *Silas Wright*, "Start of career" (rev. 1379665879, retrieved 2026-10-27). Settlement in Canton, local offices, surrogate 1821–1824. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silas_Wright [^9]: Wikipedia contributors, *Silas Wright*, "Family" (rev. 1379665879, retrieved 2026-10-27). 1833 marriage to Clarissa Moody; no children. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silas_Wright [^10]: Wikipedia contributors, *Silas Wright*, "Military service" (rev. 1379665879, retrieved 2026-10-27). Militia ranks 1822–1827 and 1829 resignation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silas_Wright [^11]: Wikipedia contributors, *Silas Wright*, "State senator" (rev. 1379665879, retrieved 2026-10-27). 1823 nomination, Clinton canal-commission removal, 1826 Ward committee. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silas_Wright [^12]: Wikipedia contributors, *Silas Wright*, "Congressman" (rev. 1379665879, retrieved 2026-10-27). 1826 election, House service dates, tariff positions, 1828 contested election. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silas_Wright [^13]: Wikipedia contributors, *Silas Wright*, "State comptroller" (rev. 1379665879, retrieved 2026-10-27). 1829 selection, canal finance policy, 1832 reelection, 1833 resignation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silas_Wright [^14]: Wikipedia contributors, *Silas Wright*, "1844 Democratic national convention" (rev. 1379665879, retrieved 2026-10-27). Withdrawal request, declined vice-presidential nomination, Dallas nomination. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silas_Wright [^15]: Wikipedia contributors, *Silas Wright*, "Death and burial" (rev. 1379665879, retrieved 2026-10-27). Death on August 27, 1847, burial, 1848 plans. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silas_Wright [^16]: Wikipedia contributors, *Silas Wright*, "Legacy" (rev. 1379665879, retrieved 2026-10-27). Honorary degree, Weybridge monument, namesakes, Silas Wright House. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silas_Wright [^17]: The White House, *Protecting America's Bank Account Against Fraud, Waste, and Abuse* (March 2025). Presidential action designated as the anchor of at-issue entry AI-Humphrey-051. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/protecting-americas-bank-account-against-fraud-waste-and-abuse/ [^18]: *Annandale Advocate*, *Wright County history (source of at-issue entry AI-Humphrey-051)* (n.d.). February 20, 1855 organization, Monticello as first seat, Buffalo's rent-free courthouse offer, 1867 date. https://www.annandaleadvocate.com/