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Senate Years of Service: 1834-1836 Party: Anti-Jacksonian; Whig
LEIGH, Benjamin Watkins, a Senator from Virginia; born in Chesterfield County, Va., on June 18, 1781;
studied under private tutors; graduated from William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Va., in 1802;
studied law; admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Petersburg, Va.; served in the War of
1812; member, State house of delegates 1811-1813; moved to Richmond, Va., in 1813; prepared
the revised code of 1810; delegate to the State constitutional convention of 1829 and 1830; member,
State house of delegates 1830-1831; official reporter of the State court of appeals 1829-1841;
elected as an Anti-Jacksonian (later Whig) to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy in the term
ending March 3, 1835, caused by the resignation of William C. Rives; reelected in 1835 and served
from February 26, 1834, to July 4, 1836, when he resigned; resumed the practice of law; died in
Richmond, Va., February 2, 1849; interment in Shockoe Cemetery.
BibliographyDictionary of American Biography;
Hall, Cline Edwin. The Political Life of Benjamin Watkins Leigh. Masters thesis, University of
Richmond, 1959; Macfarland, William H. An Address on the Life, Character, and Public
Services of the Late Hon. Benjamin Watkins Leigh. Richmond: Macfarlane and Fergusson,
1851.
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