Benjamin Swift
United States Senator
from Vermont
In office
March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1839
Preceded byHoratio Seymour
Succeeded bySamuel S. Phelps
Member of the United States House of Representatives from Vermont's 4th congressional district
In office
March 4, 1827 – March 3, 1831
Preceded byEzra Meech
Succeeded byHeman Allen (of Milton)
Member of the Vermont House of Representatives from St. Albans
In office
1825–1827
Preceded byStephen Royce
Succeeded byJohn Smith
Personal details
Born(1781-04-03)April 3, 1781
Amenia, New York, U.S.
DiedNovember 11, 1847(1847-11-11) (aged 66)
St. Albans, Vermont, U.S.
Resting placeGreenwood Cemetery
St. Albans, Vermont
Political partyDemocratic-Republican
National Republican
Whig
SpouseRebecca Brown Swift
Children9
Parent(s)Job Swift
Mary Ann (Sedgwick) Swift
Alma materLitchfield Law School
ProfessionPolitician
Lawyer
Banker
Farmer

Benjamin Swift (April 9, 1780 – November 11, 1847) was an American lawyer, banker and politician from Vermont. He served as a United States Representative and United States Senator, and helped found the Whig Party.

Early life

Swift was born in Amenia, New York, the son of Job Swift and Mary Ann (Sedgwick) Swift.[1] In 1786, at the age of five, he moved with his father to Bennington in the Vermont Republic. He attended the common schools in Bennington before attending Litchfield Law School in 1801.[2] He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1806. He began the practice of law in Bennigton before moving to Manchester to practice law. In 1809 he moved to St. Albans to practice law. He also engaged in banking and farming in the area.

Political career

He held various political positions in Vermont, and was elected to the Vermont State House in 1825.[3] He served in the State House until 1827. He was then elected to serve Vermont as a National Republican Party candidate in the United States House of Representatives. He served in the Twentieth and the Twenty-first Congresses from March 4, 1827, to March 3, 1831.[4] While in Congress, he was on the executive committee of the Congressional Temperance Society.[5] He declined renomination.

In 1833 he was elected as an Anti-Jacksonian candidate to the United States Senate, serving from March 4, 1833, to March 3, 1839.[6] While in the Senate, Swift was a strong opponent of President Andrew Jackson and helped found the Whig Party.[2] Swift was not renominated for a second term in the Senate and returned to St. Albans where he continued to work as a lawyer and farmer until his death. He died on November 11, 1847, in St. Albans, Vermont[4] and is interred in Greenwood Cemetery in St. Albans.[7]

Family life

Swift married Rebecca Brown on October 26, 1809.[3] They were the parents of nine children: Charles Henry, Cordelia, William, Catherine Sedgwick, Alfred Brown, Jane Harriet, George Sedgwick, Caroline, and Charles Benjamin.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 "Benjamin Swift". Ancestry.com. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  2. 1 2 "Benjamin Swift". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  3. 1 2 Middlebury College (1917). Catalogue of Officers and Students of Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont. The College. p. xiv.
  4. 1 2 Herringshaw, Thomas William (1904). Herringshaw's Encyclopedia of American Biography of the Nineteenth Century. American Publishers' Association. p. 910.
  5. ↑ American Temperance Union (1837). Journal of the American Temperance Union, Volumes 1-4. The Union. p. 36.
  6. ↑ U.S. Government Printing Office (1913). United States Congressional Serial Set. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 1039.
  7. ↑ "Prominent People Buried in Vermont". Vermont Old Cemetery Association. Retrieved May 6, 2014.

Further reading


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