Zephaniah Swift (February 27, 1759-September 27, 1823) was an jurist, politician and author. He was U.S. Representative, 1793-97; Connecticut State Representative, 1787-93, 1820-22; member of the Abolition Society, 1795; Chief-Justice of the Connecticut Superior Court, 1806-19; Connecticut Superior Court Judge, 1801-06; and helped frame the Connecticut State Constitution, 1814.
In 1793, in his work The Correspondent, Zephaniah Swift stated:
<Christians of different denominations ought to consider that the law knows no distinction among them; that they are all established upon the broad basis of equal liberty, that they have a right to think, speak, and worship as they please, and that no sect has power to injure and oppress another. When they reflect that they are equally under the protection of the law, all will revere and love the constitution, and feel interested in the support of the government. No denomination can pride themselves in the enjoyment of superior and exclusive powers and immunities.> 1759ZS001
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1759ZS001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Zephaniah Swift, 1793. Zephaniah Swift, The Correspondent (Windham: John Byrne, 1793), p. 138.