Henry Adoniram Swift was an American politician who was the third Governor of Minnesota. He served as Governor from July 10, 1863 to January 11, 1864 after serving as the third Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota when Governor Alexander Ramsey resigned to enter the United States Congress. Prior to that he had served in the Minnesota Senate. Swift was a Republican. Described by peers as gentle, self-effacing, and ambivalent toward politics, Henry Swift was Minnesota's third governor for less than a year, completing the second term of Alexander Ramsey, who had been elected United States Senator. With little time or apparent inclination to effect major change, this un-elected governor concentrated on assuring the welfare of Civil War veterans. After graduation with honors from Western Reserve College in his native Ohio, Swift tutored the children of a slave owner in Mississippi, an experience that reinforced his commitment to abolition. He returned to Ohio, earned a law degree, and began a career in business and government service. He and his family journeyed to Minnesota in 1853, settling first in St. Paul then St. Peter. With his partners in the St. Peter Land Company, he campaigned, unsuccessfully, to relocate the state capital in their burgeoning Minnesota River town. Wikipedia [ - ]

Henry Adoniram Swift was an American politician who was the third Governor of Minnesota. He... [ + ]