Randolph – First Attorney General and presenter of the Virginia Plan at the Constitutional Convention; Robert Morris – "Financier of the Revolution"; Oliver Ellsworth – future Chief Justice and presenter of the Connecticut Plan; Charles Lee – Third Attorney General) and signers of the Declaration of Independence. Subscribers are listed from every state, including the original 13 colonies, Vermont, Kentucky and Tennessee, which became the 16th state when the second volume was published. In the introduction of "A System of Law" he explained that every citizen ought to acquire of knowledge of those laws that govern their daily conduct and "secure the invaluable blessings of life, liberty and property." According to Swift, the best method to diffuse this knowledge was to "simplify" and "fyftematize" (systematize) the laws. In the introduction to his Digest of the Law of Evidence Swift wrote that "No object is more important in society, than a code of laws founded on principles of justice, and promulgated with such perspicuity, and precision, that they may be easily understood, and uniformly administered." He further explained that doing so "furnishes to the people more effective security for their liberty, than mere forms of government" and "checks their tendency to despotism, and restrains the baneful influence of party spirit." Swift was an early proponent of judicial independence, which may have been the ultimate reason why he was not reappointed to the bench in 1818. He was outspoken in denouncing legislative interference with the courts, including the power to grant new trials and the setting aside of judgments. When the Legislature intervened to reverse a criminal conviction in Lung's Case, a case in which Justice Swift had presided, he did not hesitate to express his displeasure with the Legislature. In a pamphlet entitled "Vindication etc.", Justice Swift explained that the Legislature should "never encroach on the jurisdiction of the Judiciary." After expressing this opinion, he was not reappointed to the bench. Nevertheless, Swift's views regarding the importance of protecting judicial independence was validated with the adoption of the 1818 Constitution. Historians have recognized that Swift was a "moving force" in convening the convention of 1818 to draft Connecticut's first constitution. Swift was an outspoken critic of slavery, which he described as a "practice which has long been a dishonor to human nature." He was an active member of the Connecticut Society for the Promotion of Freedom and Relief of Persons Unlawfully