After representing Dinwiddie County in the Virginia House of Delegates 1811-13, Leigh moved to Richmond, where he rose rapidly in his chosen profession.

President Jackson called on the Congress to censor anti-slavery publications from the federal mails, a bill the Senate defeated 25-19.

Leigh proposed a statewide boycott of pro-emancipation newspapers, writing that Virginians had the right "to suppress to the utmost of our power what we deem inflammatory, dangerous, mischievous.

Benjamin Watkins Leigh was a founding member (1831) of the Virginia Historical Society and first chairman of its standing committee.

[18] His home at Richmond, the Benjamin Watkins Leigh House, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969.