9^
VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY
He was elected to the United States senate
to fill vacancy caused by resignation of
Littleton W. Tazewell, and served from
January 4. 1833, until February 22, 1834,
when he resigned, having refused to follow
the instructions of the \'irginia legislature
to vote to censure President Jackson for re-
moving government deposits from the Bank
of the United States. He was reelected to
the United States senate in place of John
Tyler, resigned February 29. 1836. and was
returned 1840-45. He joined the Whigs in
1840. but did not approve of the course of
Mr. Clay in bringing forward the bank bills
in 1 841. He was appointed United States
minister to France by President Fillmore,
serving 1849-53. and in the latter year retired
tv private life at his residence. "Castle Hill,
Albemarle county. He was one of the five
commissioners sent from Virginia to the
peace congress at Washington. D. C, in
February. 1861, and elected chairman of the
\'irginia delegates chosen at Richmond,
April 17, 1861, to represent Virginia in the
provisional congress at Montgomery, Ala-
bama, April 29, 1861. He represented his
district in the second Confederate congress,
February 22, 1864, to February 22. 1865.
He was made president of the Virginia His-
torical Society, 1847, ^^^d received the de-
gree of Doctor of Laws from the College
of William and Mary. He was the author
of: *The Life and Character of John Hamp-
den" (1845) ; **Ethics of Christianity"
(1855); "The Life and Times of James
Madison (3 vols., 1859-69). He died at
"Castle Hill," Virginia, April 25, 1868.
Leigh, Benjamin Watkins, son of Rev. William Leigh and Martha Watkins, his wife* was born in Chesterfield county. Vir- ginia, June 18. 1781. He graduated at the
College of William and Mary in 1802, stud-
ied law, and carried on a successful practice
at Petersburg, \'irginia. until 1S13. when
he removed to Richmond. He was elected
from Petersburg to the \'irginia legisla-
ture, where in 181 1 he presented resolutions
asserting the right of the legislature to in-
struct United States senators elected by it.
He was a member of the commission which
revised the statutes 6i the state, and in 1822
served as a commissioner to Kentucky, con-
ferring with Henry Clay in regard to an im-
portant land law, known as the "occupying
claimants" law, threatening to annul the
title which \'irginia held upon certain lands
lying within the state of Kentucky; but a
Stitisfactory agreement was finally reached
by these two representatives. From 1829
to 1841 he served as reporter of the \'ir-
ginia court of appeals, and was prominent
in the state constitutional convention of
1S29-30. He was first a Democrat and after-
wards a Whig, and March 5, 1S34. was
elected to the United States senate, where
he took the place of William C. Rives, a
Democrat, who had refused to obey instruc-
tions from the Virginia legislature, and had
tendered his resignation. Senator Leigh
was reelected, but being instructed to vote
for the celebrated expunging resolutions, re-
fused to obey. In view of his former atti-
tude on the doctrine of instructions, this
made him unpopular. A year later he re-
signed, but he never recovered his former
popularity, and from that time his life was
spent in retirement. He was compiler of
- Reports of the Court of Appeals and Gen-
eral Court," 1829-1841. The degree of Doc- tor of Law^s was given him by the College of William and Mary in 1837. He died in Richmond, Virginia. February 2, 1849.
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