Preceded by Galusha A. Grow Succeeded by George W. Scranton Education Dickinson College | Preceded by Edward F. Tattnall Name Hendrick Wright Succeeded by Joseph A. Scranton Succeeded by Henry Mills Fuller | |
 | ||
Role Former U.S. Representative Died September 2, 1881, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, United States Political party Democratic Party, Greenback Party Previous offices Representative (PA 12th District) 1877–1881 | ||
Preceded by William Henry Stanton Member of congress start date March 4, 1853 | ||
Hendrick Bradley Wright (April 24, 1808 – September 2, 1881) was a Democratic and Greenback member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.
Contents
Early life
Hendrick B. Wright was born in Plymouth, Pennsylvania. He attended the Wilkes-Barre Grammar School and was graduated from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1829. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
Political activities
He was appointed district attorney for Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in 1834. He was a member of the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives from 1841 to 1843 and served the last year as speaker. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1844, 1848, 1852, 1856, 1860, 1868, and 1876.
United States House of Representatives
Wright was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1850. He was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-third Congress. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1854. He was again elected to the Thirty-seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of George W. Scranton. He was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-fifth Congress and reelected as a Greenbacker to the Forty-sixth Congress. He was chairman of the United States House Committee on Manufactures during the Forty-fifth Congress.
During the 1877 railroad strike Congressman Wright protested the impact of sending federal troops by the request of the Pennsylvania Railroad to put down the strike in his District. “Troops were introduced into my district at the solicitation of the men who controlled the mines and the manufacturing establishments … There was no necessity or occasion for it … It only stirred up [the labor] element. And now, since that has been done, that element has shown its power and its strength, a power and strength that cannot be resisted, that will work its way out … You cannot suppress a volcano.” (Bruce, 1959, pp. 309–10)
He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1880 and was unsuccessful in getting the Greenback nomination for President the same year, losing to James Weaver. He died in Wilkes-Barre in 1881. He is interned in Hollenback Cemetery.