He opened a successful law practice in Lewistown, Illinois and was elected district attorney in 1853.

[1] Goudy was admitted to the bar in 1847 and opened a practice with Hezekiah M. Wead in Lewistown, Illinois.

Likewise, he argued in lower courts for Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway Company v. Illinois and Bowman v. Chicago & North Western Railway Company; he served as general counsel for the rail line.

In 1862, he was a candidate for the United States Senate, but Goudy lost in the primaries to William Alexander Richardson.

Goudy died in his office at the Chicago and North Western of an apparent heart attack on April 29, 1893.