Silas Wright was born on May 24, 1795 in Amherst, Massachusetts. When he was just a year old, his family moved to Vermont. Wright got his political grounding in Vermont where his father was a member of the state legislature. Silas Wright was educated at the Addison County Grammar School and then the Middlebury Academy in Middlebury, Vermont. To support himself while at Middlebury Academy, Silas taught school between his own classes. After graduating from Middlebury Academy, Silas read for the law and moved to New York to practice law. In January 1819, Wright was admitted to the New York bar and established his practice in Canton, New York.
One of the attractions of Canton was the home of an old family friend, Medad Moody. Moody offered to build Wright a home as an enticement to settle there. Also, Moody also had an attractive daughter. Wright married that attractive daughter fourteen years earlier.
It was about this time that Wright met and made friends with his political mentor and ally, Martin Van Buren. Wright and Van Buren, strangers to each other, got into a friendly scuffle on a steamboat. Wright either pushed Van Buren, or Van Buren fell overboard. Either way, Van Buren took it all with good humor, and the two men became friends and staunch political allies.
Wright's political start came very quickly. Wright's legal tutor was a leader in state politics. Wright's friend, Van Buren, was rising quickly in national politics. These men, and a few others, formed the Albany Regency, a political organization that controlled New York politics for several decades. Wright served in minor positions before being elected to the New York Senate in 1823.
Wright had few strong positions on the issues of the day and followed the leadership of the Albany Regency. His first task was to help William Crawford, the presidential candidate favored by the Albany Regency, win New York in 1824. The electoral votes of New York had always been determined by the state legislature rather than by popular vote of the people. The Albany Regency wanted to continue this practice. Crawford was not popular with the people of New York, and had little chance to win a direct election. Wright joined the other members of the Albany Regency in postponing any consideration of changing the method of choosing presidential electors until after the November election. Wright also voted with the Regency to remove former Governor De Witt Clinton from his position as canal commissioner. This was a blatantly partisan move and it backfired. Clinton was removed, but then ran for governor of New York and won the election.
