Langdon Cheves ( September 17, 1776 – June 26, 1857) was an American politician, lawyer and businessman from South Carolina. He represented the city of Charleston in the United States House of Representatives from 1810 to 1815, where he played a key role on the home front of the War of 1812. Cheves was a leader among the War Hawk faction of the House. He served as chairman of the Committees on Naval Affairs and Ways and Means under Speaker of the House Henry Clay, then succeeded Clay as Speaker in the war's final stages. After leaving the House, he served as President of the Second Bank of the United States from 1819 to 1823.
After leaving public office, Cheves was an active advocate for unified Southern resistance to protective tariffs and any attempt to abolish slavery, though an opponent of unilateral action by South Carolina or any one state. Originally, Cheves advocated for a convention of Southern states to pressure Congress into adopting these positions, but eventually became one of the earliest advocates for outright regional secession from the United States.
Early life Langdon Cheves was born on September 17, 1776, at Bulltown Fort, on the Rocky River in South Carolina. His father, Alexander, was a native of Buchan, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. His mother, Mary Langdon, was from Virginia and had migrated to the South Carolina backcountry with her father, a farmer and doctor. Their neighbors included Andrew Pickens and the Calhoun family.
Cheves was born in Bulltown Fort amidst an ongoing war between the Scots-Irish settlers and the Cherokee, which settlers attributed to British instigation at the onset of the American Revolution. Cheves's pregnant mother was sheltered at the fort for her protection. Shortly after his birth, his maternal aunt left the fort for supplies and was killed and scalped by enemy forces.
His mother died on November 20, 1779. Cheves later described standing at his mother's grave as his earliest childhood memory. He was shortly thereafter placed in the care of his paternal aunt and uncle, Thomas and Margaret (née Agnew) Cheves. Cheves's father Alexander enlisted in the Loyalist cause under Major John Hamilton, but his brother Thomas was a Patriot who fought under Andrew Pickens at the Battle of Kettle Creek. After the Loyalist cause became dire in 1782, Alexander Cheves transferred his property to Langdon, likely in fear of confiscation. He entered exile, first in Nova Scotia and then in London. He was not received favorably by British courts and was not remunerated for his service and decided to return to America.
Langdon was raised by his aunt and uncle on their family farm with four younger cousins. When they reached an appropriate age, the children began studies under Andrew Weed, a community leader and ruling elder in the local Presbyterian Church. The studies centered on the Westminster Catechism.
In 1785, Alexander Cheves returned from exile with his second wife, Susannah Craig, established a business in Charleston, and retrieved his son Langdon from his brother. Langdon continued his formal education from 1786 to 1788 with a Scottish schoolmaster who eliminated his backcountry drawl through corporal punishment. Around 1790, his father purchased a house slave named Phoebe.
Early career Business career At age 12, Langdon's father withdrew him from school and apprenticed him to James Jaffray, a merchant, Glasgow native, and fellow member of the city's St. Andrew's Society. Langdon started by performing menial tasks at the Charleston shop before being promoted to supercargo to accompany shipments to and from Edisto Island. By 1792, at age 16, he had been promoted to chief clerk. In this role, he met and impressed many of the city's key merchants, including John Potter, from whom Cheves personally secured a loan for the business and who later, as a director of the Bank of the United States, secured Cheves's election as its president.
Legal career In spite of the advice of his friends, who thought him "born to be a merchant," Cheves began studying law at age 18. His early education was largely self-taught from a personal library, but he hired a personal tutor for French and Latin. After the death of his employer James Jaffray on October 15, 1795, Cheves met William Marshall, an attorney assigned to Jaffray's estate and future judge of the South Carolina Court of Equity. Cheves applied to read law in Marshall's office, and his apprenticeship began in early 1796. Although South Carolina law required four years of reading for non-college graduates, Cheves appeared for examination before the bar on October 13, 1797, and passed.
He opened an office in Charleston which he rented from Elihu H. Bay and shared with Robert James Turnbull. To improve his public speaking, Cheves joined a Philomathean Debating Society, which doubled as a social club. There, he met William Lowndes.
By May 1800, Cheves's practice and social standing had grown. He had purchased a slave to serve as a personal servant, improved his dress, and applied to practice before the United States Court for District of South Carolina. In 1801, he accepted a partnership with Joseph Peace, a Quaker and native to the West Indies. The partnership was a financial success; each man made over $10,000 annually, and in its final two years from 1807 to 1809, each made $20,000 (approximately $ in ).
When he became Attorney General of the state of South Carolina in 1808, the firm's work and prestige expanded dramatically. Among Cheves's young private clerks during these two years were John M. Felder, John Laurens North, Thomas Smith Grimké, and future U.S. Senator Robert Young Hayne. Cheves would later bestow his legal practice on Hayne.
In the summer of 1807, Peace announced his plans to leave Charleston for Philadelphia, and Cheves, who believed Peace had not fulfilled his share of the partnership, eagerly arranged the firm's dissolution. He planned to retire from law, but first accepted a one-year partnership with Amos B. Northrup.
State politics In summer 1798, stemming from outrage over French mistreatment of American ambassador and Charleston native Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Cheves joined and became a treasurer of the Charleston Federalist Company, an informal social-military group formed to defend the harbor in the event of an ostensible French invasion.
On March 9, 1802, Cheves was elected to the Charleston City Council to succeed William Lee.
South Carolina House of Representatives In October 1802, he was elected to represent the city (as the Parish of St. Philip and St. Michael) in the South Carolina House of Representatives. By this time, the Federalist Party was in rapid decline in the state, even its previous stronghold of Charleston. Cheves was identified with the younger Republican faction. He was not actively involved in the business of the House, focusing instead on his legal practice and declining to run for re-election in 1804.
Cheves returned to politics in 1806, running for the House again at the head of the Republican ticket. He received more votes than any other candidate. Upon the start of the new term, Cheves was appointed chair of the Judiciary Committee and the Committee on Privileges and Elections.
In a special legislative session, Cheves took an active part in the reapportionment of the state to address the disproportionate representation of Lowcountry whites. The resultant constitutional amendment, known as the "Compromise of 1808," was guided by William Lowndes and resulted in permanent control by the combined planter aristocracy.
1808 presidential election In the wake of the Chesapeake–Leopard affair, Cheves served with Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Thomas Pinckney, and William Washington on a non-partisan committee enforcing Charleston resolutions requiring ten days' mourning and barring assistance to British ships. Cheves also anonymously (as "Aristides") wrote editorials in support of President Thomas Jefferson and the Embargo of 1807.
He endorsed James Madison over Charles Pinckney, urged the election of pro-Madison Representatives, and stood for re-election as one such Representative. He was elected by the legislature to head the electoral ticket and cast his vote for Madison.
South Carolina Attorney General On December 7, 1808, Cheves was elected South Carolina Attorney General. In this role, he advised Governor John Drayton on legal matters, personally represented the state in the eastern circuit courts, and expanded his private practice.
U.S. House of Representatives Elections 1810 As the embargo on European goods dragged on, the South Carolina economy suffered. Rice prices were halved and cotton collapsed. By 1810, Charlestonians and South Carolinians at large were deeply discontent with the 11th Congress and President Madison. With the Federalist Party now a non-factor, the election was contested between competing Republican factions.
Alongside E.S. Thomas of the City Gazette, friends of Thomas Jefferson including Charles Pinckney supported William Loughton Smith, a former Federalist Congressman who had served as John Adams's minister to Portugal. However, a much larger portion of the party in Charleston favored Cheves, and the Smith supporters eventually got in line. The election was held October 10–11, but was overshadowed by a fire in the city that destroyed 194 houses. Cheves was elected without opposition. The other new members of the delegation were William Lowndes, representing Columbia and John C. Calhoun of the Upstate.
Shortly after his election to the House, incumbent Robert Marion resigned early, triggering a special election to complete his term. Cheves won unopposed and took his seat early in the 11th Congress.
1812 In 1812, Cheves was re-elected to the 13th Congress. His opponent was the leader of the South Carolina Federalists, John Rutledge Jr. Cheves was attacked for his support of the War, especially in light of his 1808 letters which vigorously opposed "war for commerce." Federalists also accused Cheves of private discrimination against immigrants. He remained personally aloof from the campaign, only writing to assure his constituents that he acknowledged their confidence and valued it "more highly than money." He won re-election comfortably, 1,581–839.
Committee assignments During his brief first term in office, during the 11th Congress, Cheves served on two minor select committees: one dealing with bank incorporations and the other on the completion of the 1810 Census.
In his second term, Cheves served on the Committee on Ways and Means and chaired of the Select Committee on Naval Affairs. He became acting chair of Ways and Means on April 27, 1812.
War of 1812 Immediately upon his arrival in Washington, Cheves was faced with the brewing international crisis that eventually resulted in the War of 1812. British impressment of Americans had become less frequent, but both Britain and France maintained obstacles to American trade with the other. The House had recently passed Macon's Bill Number 2 in retaliation, and Napoleon had relaxed the French restrictions. In a debate over repealing Macon's Bill, Cheves delivered a careful maiden speech critical of the bill as feeble and calling for a "more direct and proper course." He was immediately identified as a "War Hawk".
War Mess
In the 12th Congress, to which Cheves had originally been elected, his housemates included Lowndes, Calhoun, fellow Hawk Henry Clay, Clay's rival Felix Grundy, and Senator George M. Bibb. The building came to be called the "War Mess" and served as a meeting place for pro-War leaders of Congress and Secretary of State James Monroe, who acted as liaison to the President. As a consequence, the residents of the house were among the best informed Representatives in the 12th Congress.