LEAVITT, JOSHUA, D.D., 1794-1873; b. in Heath, Franklin co., Mass.; graduated at Yale in 1814; was admitted to the bar in 1819, and practiced for a time in Heath, Mass., and Putney, Vt.; graduated at the Yale divinity school in 1825, and during the next three years was pastor of the Congregational church in Stratford, Conn. • from 1828 to 1831 was editor of the Sailors' Magazine. It was at this time that the churches of most of the Protestant denominations in the United States were much agitated upon the subject of revivals of religion, for the promotion of which many pastors adopted what were then called " new measures," such as the employment of " evangelists," the hold ing of " protracted meetings," " inquiry meetings," etc. The New York Evangelist was established to promote revivals and defend the " new measures," and from 1831 to 1837, Dr. Leavitt was its editor. During this period the anti-slavery agitation had its begin nings, and from the first it enlisted the warm support of Dr. Leavitt, who made tho Evangelist a powerful but discreet agent for its promotion. When the American anti slavery society Was organized in 1833, he accepted its doctrineg of the sinfulness of slave holding and the duty of immediate emancipation, and became one of its most active and influential members. From 1837 to 1840 he was the editor of the society's weekly organ, The Emancipator, and a member of the executive committee. When the abolitionists
divided in 1840, lie went with the new organization, and thenceforth his anti-slavery efforts were mainly confined to the political arena. He was an active promoter of the "liberty" and the "free soil" parties. In 1848 he became office editor of _the Inde pendent, retaining a connection therewith to the day of his death. About 1834 he ,:om piled and published The Christian Lyre, a work containing the great body of the hymns and tunes chiefly used in the revivals of that day. It had a very wide circulation. He reported and published many of the sermons of Charles G. Finney. He also spent sev eral winters in Washington, for the purpose of observing and reporting the action of congress upon questions relating to slavery, and while thus engaged was in close confi dential relations with John Quincy Adams, Joshua R. Giddings, and other opponents of slavery then in congress, by whom his counsel was highly prized. It is understood that shortly before his death he began to write a semi-biographical and semi-historical account of his labors in the anti-slavery cause, and it is to be deeply regretted that he did not live to complete the work.