Rev. Joshua Leavitt (September 8, 1794,
Heath, Massachusetts
Heath is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 723 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
Heath was first settled in 1765 as a part of C ...
– January 16, 1873,
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
) was an American
Congregationalist minister and former lawyer who became a prominent writer, editor and publisher of
abolitionist
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people.
The British ...
literature. He was also a spokesman for the
Liberty Party and a prominent campaigner for cheap postage. Leavitt served as editor of ''
The Emancipator'', ''The New York Independent'', ''The New York Evangelist'', and other periodicals. He was the first secretary of the
American Temperance Society
The American Temperance Society (ATS), also known as the American Society for the Promotion of Temperance, was a society established on February 13, 1826, in Boston, Massachusetts. Within five years there were 2,220 local chapters in the U.S. wit ...
and co-founder of the New York City Anti-Slavery Society.
Biography
Born in
Heath, Massachusetts
Heath is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 723 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
Heath was first settled in 1765 as a part of C ...
, in
the Berkshires
The Berkshires () are a highland geologic region located in the western parts of Massachusetts and northwest Connecticut. The term "Berkshires" is normally used by locals in reference to the portion of the Vermont-based Green Mountains that ex ...
, Leavitt attended
Yale College
Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...
, where he graduated at age twenty. He subsequently studied law and practiced for a time in
Putney, Vermont
Putney is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,617 at the 2020 census.
The town's historic core makes up the Putney Village Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Histo ...
, before matriculating at the
Yale Theological Seminary
Yale Divinity School (YDS) is one of the twelve graduate and professional schools of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
Congregationalist theological education was the motivation at the founding of Yale, and the professional school has ...
for a three-year course of study. He was subsequently ordained as a
Congregational
Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...
clergyman at
Stratford, Connecticut. After four years in Stratford, Rev. Leavitt decamped for New York City, where he first became secretary of the American Seamens' Friend Society, and began his 44-year career as editor of ''Sailors' Magazine''. Thus was Leavitt launched on his career as social reformer, temperance spokesman, editor, abolitionist and religious proselytizer.
Leavitt was heavily involved in a series of high-profile anti-slavery cases, including the escape of the slave
Basil Dorsey
Basil Dorsey (c. 1808 – February 15, 1872) was a self-emancipated slave born in Libertytown, Maryland. He fled to Bristol, Pennsylvania, and later moved to Florence, Massachusetts, where he lived for the remainder of his life.
__TOC__
Early li ...
from
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
into
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
(Leavitt aided Dorsey's passage northward, and members of the extended Leavitt family helped shelter Dorsey in Massachusetts), as well as the ''
La Amistad
''La Amistad'' (; Spanish for ''Friendship'') was a 19th-century two- masted schooner, owned by a Spaniard colonizing Cuba. It became renowned in July 1839 for a slave revolt by Mende captives, who had been captured and sold to European slave ...
'' case, in which enslaved Africans on a Spanish ship rebelled and took control. Leavitt played a pivotal role in the Amistad events, when on September 4, 1839, he,
Lewis Tappan
Lewis Tappan (May 23, 1788 – June 21, 1873) was a New York abolitionist who worked to achieve freedom for the enslaved Africans aboard the '' Amistad''. Tappan was also among the founders of the American Missionary Association in 1846, which b ...
, and
Simeon Jocelyn Simeon Jocelyn (1799-1879) was a white pastor, abolitionist, and social activist for African-American civil rights and educational opportunities in New Haven, Connecticut, during the 19th century. He is known for his attempt to establish America's f ...
formed the Amistad Committee to raise funds for the defense of the Amistad captives.
One of Leavitt's major accomplishments was helping to provide the intellectual underpinnings of the abolitionist argument through his writing and publishing. In 1841, for instance, Leavitt published his "Financial Power of Slavery", a compelling document which argued that the South was draining the national economy through its reliance on slavery.
''The Christian Lyre''
Leavitt published ''The Christian Lyre'' in 1830, the "first American tunebook to take the form of a modern hymnal, with music for every hymn (melody and bass only) and the multistanza hymns printed in full, under or beside the music". It later became one of the standard tunebooks used in the 1830s New England Revivalism movement.
Family
Rev. Joshua Leavitt came from a long line of religious figures. His father was Col. Roger Leavitt, a wealthy landowner and Massachusetts legislator, and his mother Chloe (Maxwell) Leavitt. His grandfather was the Congregational minister Rev.
Jonathan Leavitt, a 1758 graduate of Yale and pastor of
Charlemont, Massachusetts
Charlemont is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,185 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
Charlemont was first colonized by Moses R ...
. The Leavitt family had ties to religious institutions since Joshua Leavitt's ancestor
John Leavitt
Deacon John Leavitt (1608–1691) was a tailor, public officeholder, and founding deacon of Old Ship Church in Hingham, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, the only remaining 17th-century Puritan meeting house in America and the oldest church in con ...
served as founding deacon of
Old Ship Church
The Old Ship Church (also known as the Old Ship Meetinghouse) is a Puritan Church (building), church built in 1681 in Hingham, Massachusetts, Hingham, Massachusetts. It is the only surviving 17th-century Puritan Meeting house, meetinghouse in A ...
in
Hingham, Massachusetts
Hingham ( ) is a town in metropolitan Greater Boston on the South Shore (Massachusetts), South Shore of the U.S. state of Massachusetts in northern Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Plymouth County. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, t ...
, and his ancestor Rev.
Thomas Hooker
Thomas Hooker (July 5, 1586 – July 7, 1647) was a prominent English colonial leader and Congregational minister, who founded the Connecticut Colony after dissenting with Puritan leaders in Massachusetts. He was known as an outstanding spea ...
had left the
Massachusetts Bay Colony to found the state of
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...
.
Rev. Joshua Leavitt's son William was a Congregational minister in
Hudson, New York
Hudson is a city and the county seat of Columbia County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 5,894. Located on the east side of the Hudson River and 120 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, it was named for the rive ...
. Aside from Rev. Joshua Leavitt, other members of the Leavitt family were prominent abolitionists. The National Park service lists two Leavitt family properties in upstate Massachusetts – the
Hart and Mary Leavitt House, as well as the
Roger Hooker and Keziah Leavitt House – on its National Underground Railroad historic sites tour. The entire extended family of Rev. Joshua Leavitt can be considered ardent – and active – abolitionist sympathizers.
Roger Hooker and Keziah Leavitt House, Charlemont, Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, National Park Service, nps.gov
See also
* Roger Hooker Leavitt
* Hart Leavitt
*Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...
Notes
References
*
*
Further reading
The Road to Freedom: Anti-Slavery Activity in Greenfield, Greenfield Human Rights Commission, the Greenfield Historical Commission, starrcenter.washcoll.edu
The Amistad Case, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.
*'' Joshua Leavitt, Evangelical Abolitionist'', Hugh Davis, Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, La., 1990,
External links
Portrait of Joshua Leavitt, Massachusetts Historical Society
*
*
Finance of Cheap Postage, Joshua Leavitt, Secretary of the Boston Cheap Postage Association, Boston, 1849
The Christian Lyre, Joshua Leavitt, New York, 1833
The Monroe Doctrine, Joshua Leavitt, New York, 1863
Easy Lessons in Reading for the Use of the Younger Classes, Joshua Leavitt, Keene, New Hampshire, 1830"> Easy Lessons in Reading for the Use of the Younger Classes, Joshua Leavitt, Keene, New Hampshire, 1830
The Amistad Case, The National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leavitt, Joshua
1794 births
1873 deaths
People from Heath, Massachusetts
Religious leaders from New York City
Leavitt family
Massachusetts lawyers
American Congregationalist ministers
19th-century American newspaper publishers (people)
American newspaper editors
American male journalists
American temperance activists
Underground Railroad people
Yale Law School alumni
Yale Divinity School alumni
19th-century Congregationalist ministers
Massachusetts Libertyites
Activists from New York City
Lawyers from New York City
Yale College alumni
Congregationalist abolitionists
19th-century American lawyers
19th-century American clergy