Holden in Bondage. An address he delivered in 1791 in Hartford to the Society is credited as one of the reasons that Connecticut adopted a statute in 1792 to encourage emancipation by relieving former owners from liability to support their freed slaves. A bill was subsequently passed by the Connecticut House of Representatives to abolish slavery, but it failed to receive assent of the upper house. Swift supported softening criminal laws by making prisons more comfortable and by lessening the number of offenses punishable by the death penalty. In Swift’s day it was not considered proper for a judge to give instructions on the law to a jury. He argued against this limitation, which is now a widely accepted and necessary judicial function. In 1815 Swift received an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Yale College. Swift again served as a member of the State's House of Representatives, serving from 1820 to 1822. Swift was an unsuccessful Federalist candidate for Governor of Connecticut in both the 1822 and 1823 elections. Personal life Swift married Jerusha Watrous Swift (1763–1792) and they had one son together, Henry Swift. Swift later married Lucretia Webb Swift (1775–1843) on March 14, 1795. They had seven children together, two sons named George, Edward, Lucretia, Emily, Lucien, and Julia Swift. Zephaniah Swift died on September 27, 1823 while visiting his children in Warren, Ohio. He is interred in Oakwood Cemetery in Warren. Published works "A System of the Law of the State of Connecticut" (1795) "A Digest of the Laws of the State of Connecticut" (1820) "A Digest of the Laws of Evidence in Civil and Criminal Cases" (1810) Compiled and edited the first official, authorized version of "The Laws of the United States of America" (1796), commonly cited as "Folwell's Statutes" based on the identity of the publisher Richard Folwell. Notes References Further reading Dexter, Franklin Bowditch. Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College: July 1778 – June 1792, Holt, 1907 External links Biographical Directory of the United States Congress: SWIFT, Zephaniah, (1759–1823) Connecticut Judicial Branch Law Libraries: Zephaniah Swift's First Legal Texts in America Litchfied Historical Society: Zephaniah Swift The Political Graveyard: Swift, Zephaniah (1759–1823) Govtrack.us: Rep. Zephaniah Swift 1759 births 1823 deaths Speakers of the Connecticut House of Representatives Members of the Connecticut General Assembly Council of Assistants (1662–1818) Yale College alumni Chief Justices of the Connecticut Supreme Court People from Wareham,