 Wright attended the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, the founding college of the University of Georgia in Athens where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Literary Society.Wright studied law at the Litchfield Law School in Connecticut and was admitted to the State Bar of Georgia in 1835—becoming a practicing attorney in Crawfordville, Georgia, the same year.From 1842 until 1849, Wright served as judge of the superior court of the Cherokee circuit and from 1855-57 as a judge of the superior court of Georgia.