He gained wealth in New Amsterdam (later New York City) in the North American fur trade and tobacco business.

Beginning in 1689, Leisler led an insurrection and seized control of the city by taking over Fort James at the lower end of Manhattan.

During his period of control, Leisler completed a major purchase of property from Sir John Pell, Lord of Pelham Manor, to set up a French Huguenot settlement north of Manhattan.

[2] His finances and reputation both suffered from this encounter, as he and fellow dissenter Jacob Milborne were forced to pay all the costs of a lawsuit they had initiated in the dispute.

[2] Leisler had endeared himself to the common people by befriending a family of French Huguenots who had been landed on Manhattan island.

[2] The Glorious Revolution of 1688 also played out in New York, where people of a wide variety of religious and ethnic backgrounds divided into two well-defined factions.

The former were led by Leisler (although he was a wealthy man), the latter by Peter Schuyler, Nicholas Bayard, Stephen Van Cortlandt, William Nicolls, and other representatives of the elite Hudson Valley families.

He was popular with the men and was probably the only wealthy resident in the province who sympathized with the Dutch lower classes, who were agitated by the attempts of the Jacobite officeholders to retain power in spite of the revolution in England and the accession of William III and Mary II to the throne.

[2] When news was received that Governor Sir Edmund Andros had been imprisoned in Boston by the opposition, the Leislerians took possession on May 31, 1689, of Fort James at the southern end of Manhattan Island.

[5] Upon hearing of a report which claimed supporters of King James II were about to seize the fort and massacre settlers of Dutch descent, an armed mob gathered on the evening of June 2, 1689, to overthrow the existing government.

At first, he refused to lead the movement, but when the demand was reiterated, he acceded and within an hour received the keys of the fort, which had been seized.

The revolutionaries took advantage of the fort containing all the public funds, whose return Lieutenant Governor Nicholson demanded in vain.

[5] The aristocrats also favored deposing James but preferred to continue the provincial government established by his authority, rather than risk the danger of an interregnum.

[5] Nicholson and the council of the province, with the authorities of the city, headed by Mayor Stephen van Cortlandt, attempted to prevent the uprising, but without effect.

[2] However, after the destruction of Schenectady on February 19, 1690, by the French and their allied Indians, Christian Mohawk among them, Albany submitted to Leisler's authority.

[6] Under authority of a letter from the home government addressed to Nicholson "or in his absence, to such as for the time being takes care for preserving the peace and administering the laws in His Majesty's province of New York,"[7] Leisler had assumed the title of lieutenant-governor in December 1689.

In 1689 John Pell, Lord of Pelham Manor, officially deeded 6,100 acres (25 km²) to Leisler for the establishment of a Huguenot community north of Manhattan.

[2] On January 28, 1691, English Army officer Richard Ingoldesby, who had been commissioned lieutenant-governor of the province, landed with two companies of soldiers in Manhattan and demanded possession of Fort James.

"[2] Governor Sloughter was said to have hesitated to sign the death warrants but was trying to stabilize politics in the colony and did not have sufficient influence among the elite of New York City.