Born on June 18, 1796, in Suffield, Connecticut,[1] Leavitt moved with his family to the Northwest Territory in 1800, and settled in what would become Trumbull County, Ohio.

[2] He completed preparatory studies, attended an academy in western Pennsylvania, taught school and clerked in a store.

[2] He was reelected to the 22nd and 23rd United States Congresses and served from December 6, 1830, until July 10, 1834, when he resigned to accept a judicial position.

[2] He was a member of the World's Convention on Prison Reform in London, England in 1872.

[3] In a short memoir Leavitt wrote for his children, he described his feelings about a Congressman's job, which he described as "positively irksome and repulsive."

Leavitt added: "In times of party division, it is impossible for anyone in Congress to preserve a conscience void of offense toward God and at the same time to bear true allegiance to the party by which he has been elected.

The member must vote with his party irrespective of the public good or expect to be visited with the fiercest denunciation.