Leslie was a Confederate sympathizer during the Civil War, but began to adopt a more progressive position during his gubernatorial campaign against Harlan.

Though he opposed ratification of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, he used his influence as governor to effect passage of laws admitting the testimony of blacks in court and providing for an educational system for recently freed slaves.

Leslie continued to practice law well into his eighties, and was being considered for a district court judgeship in Montana when he fell ill with pneumonia and died on February 7, 1907, at the age of 87.

He worked with his father on the family farm until 1835, and supported himself by doing odd jobs including driving a stagecoach, running a ferry, and being store clerk.

[4] He declined nominations for a seats in the United States Congress and on the Kentucky Court of Appeals, preferring instead to work on his farm.

[7] Because of Leslie's opposition to the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, his candidacy was opposed by Henry Watterson, founder of the powerful Louisville Courier-Journal.

[7] John G. Carlisle was chosen as Leslie's running mate, and was declared by one commentator to be "by odds, the ablest man on the ticket".

[7] Leslie's opposition to the Southern Railroad bill while serving in the state senate proved a liability with some voters in his own party.

[8] During the campaign, Leslie's opponent Republican John Marshall Harlan was blasted as a "political weathercock" for having changed his stance on many issues.

[9] In one joint debate, Leslie quoted an antebellum speech wherein Harlan had called the Republican platform "revolutionary, and if carried out, would result in the destruction of our free government.

[10] Ultimately, Leslie's supporters deemed him "sober, conservative, and safe", and this perception enabled him to defeat Harlan by a considerable margin in the first election in which blacks were allowed to vote.

[12] In his address to the legislature on December 6, 1871, Leslie endorsed legislation that made it illegal to write or post threatening notices and to band together and wear disguises.

[15] Following his term in office, Leslie was elected to serve on the Glasgow circuit court, a position he held for six years, beginning in 1881.

[16] Cleveland made the appointment on the recommendation of John Marshall Harlan, Leslie's opponent in the Kentucky gubernatorial election of 1871, who was now serving as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

The press's opinion of him further dimmed when he pardoned a prostitute convicted of grand larceny because the penitentiary was not equipped to accommodate women.

His 1889 pocket veto of an appointment bill supported by the legislature was the final straw; under pressure from Republicans, President Benjamin Harrison replaced Leslie as territorial governor.

[19] During his final years practicing law in Helena, Leslie gained widespread acclaim and served as president of the Montana State Bar Association.