Robert Wright (politician)

Robert Wright (November 20, 1752 – September 7, 1826) was an American politician.

Wright was born at Narborough, near Chestertown, Maryland, attended the common schools, and the Kent Free School (later Washington College) of Chestertown. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1773, and commenced practice in Chestertown. He served in the Maryland militia during the American Revolutionary War as private, lieutenant, and later as captain. After the war, he served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 1784 to 1786, and as a member of the Maryland State Senate in 1801.

In 1800, Wright was elected as a Democratic Republican to the United States Senate on November 19, 1801, for the term commencing March 4, 1801. In the Senate, Wright served as delegate to the Farmers’ National Convention in 1803. He resigned from the Senate on November 12, 1806, having been elected the 12th Governor of Maryland, a position he served in from 1806 to 1809.

After his tenure as Governor, Wright served as clerk of Queen Anne's County, Maryland in 1810, and was elected to the Eleventh and Twelfth Congresses to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John Brown. He was re-elected to the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Congresses and served from November 29, 1810, to March 3, 1817. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1816 to the Fifteenth Congress, but was elected to the Seventeenth Congress, serving from March 4, 1821 to March 3, 1823. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1822.

In his later life, Wright served as district judge of the lower Eastern Shore district of Maryland from 1823 until his death at Blakeford in Queen Anne's County. He is interred in the private burying ground of the DeCourcy family at Cheston-on-Wye in Queen Anne's County.