A Quaker and protégé of Judge Archibald Murphey, Worth championed the cause of free public schools for white students (a position he abandoned during Reconstruction to avoid providing public education to black students), and, though he belonged to the greatly outnumbered Whig party, gained much stature for his practicality and vision.

[2] In 1830, he ran for a seat in the North Carolina House of Representatives from Randolph County, motivated in large part by a failing law practice.

His peers at the Bar persuaded him there was no better way to improve his oratory and achieve better rhetoric than to become a member of the North Carolina General Assembly, which thrives on "talk".

He served two terms in the House, took a break from public service to build a lucrative law practice, was elected to the North Carolina Senate, and then ran twice for Congress, both times unsuccessfully.

In 1858, Worth was again elected to the State Senate, where he was made chairman of a committee to investigate the poorly run North Carolina Railroad.

Though opposed to the Confederate stands on most issues, Worth remained loyal to North Carolina and refused to take part in several peace movements.

Just before Raleigh was occupied by Sherman's conquering forces at the end of the war, Governor Zebulon B. Vance charged Worth with the duty of safeguarding the State archives, which he did by evacuating them to Company Shops in Alamance County.

Worth was nominated by the Conservative Party, a state coalition that included most Democrats and some former Whigs, to run for governor in North Carolina's first and only special election for the office.

Worth's strength was in the eastern part of the state, and Holden carried the western counties which had mostly opposed secession and the Civil War.