Charlestonian Cheves

Over the years, South Carolina has birthed several well-known individuals.  These individuals range from TV personalities, to inventors, to political legends.  Perhaps, the most well-known political powerhouse that comes from South Carolina is Andrew Jackson, 7^th president of the United States[i].  John C. Calhoun is also another name that hails from South Carolina that some historians may call a political architect.  More importantly, a lesser known, named political goliath in South Carolina is Langdon Cheves. Cheves made significant impacts on the political history of South Carolina, and he is buried right here, in Charleston.

Langdon Cheves

Just after the United States declared their independence in July of 1776, Langdon Cheves was born in September of that same year in Abbeville at the Bull Town fort[ii].  After growing up in a newly founded country, Langdon quickly became a self-made attorney not just because of a private school education, but because of his intellect.  Miles Richards, on behalf of the South Carolina Encyclopedia, attributes Cheves success to hours of self-teaching.  This veracity allowed Cheves to establish his own, successful law firm.  After passing the bar in 1797, Langdon married his wife, Mary Elizabeth Dulles in 1806.

Being named the “Political Jesuit,” Cheves rose through the ranks of the Jeffersonian party to be elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1802-1809[iii].  From that moment, Langdon’s career became successful through his rise to political power.  In 1809, he was appointed at the State Attorney General in South Carolina.  Cheves then achieved an effective and powerful period in the United States House of Representatives in 1810.  During the War of 1812, Langdon was appointed to the Naval Affairs Committee which earned him a place in the passionate group known as “ The War Hawks[iv],” along with other extreme, right-winged members of Congress, including John C. Calhoun, that wanted to go to war with Britain[v].

With his prosperous reputation in Congress, Cheves was elected in 1814 as Speaker of the House, the most powerful position in the House.  This was just 4 years after being elected to congress.  The archives from the House of Representatives, paints Cheves as a powerful leader in the House that brought about an offer from President James Madison to serve as the Secretary of the Treasury position in the President’s cabinet.  After declining the offer, Cheves retired from Congress, which lead to the appointment of the president of the Second National Bank.  His goal was to restore financial order to the bank.  From 1819-1822, Langdon reformed the Bank’s declining monetary funds by approving less loans, implicating higher interest rates, and reducing the bank’s notes that were in circulation[vi].

Once the war of 1812 ended in 1814, the Treaty of Ghent was signed between the two fighting nations.  Editors at the History channel outlined that this treaty contained plans to return conquered territory and commission boundaries.  Since international war claims were unsettled, Cheves was appointed by President Monroe as the Commissioner of War claims until all outstanding international claims were adjusted.  Once Langdon completed his task set by President Monroe, he returned to Charleston as a “silent political power broker[vii].”  With a wide array of support, Cheves rallied the South with support of succession from the Union.  In 1850, he was a delegate to the convention in Nashville to support the possession of slaves in the lead up before the Civil War. 

During the last few years of his life, he remained an established attorney, and ran a plush plantation of rice in both South Carolina and Georgia.  For causes unknown, he died in Columbia South Carolina in June of 1857, and he is now buried in Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston[viii]. Langdon Cheves grave is an Obelisk. A lot can be learned from a highly successful man such as Langdon Cheves.  His tenacity and vigor allowed him to rise to political power and achieve the highest respects from politicians and colleagues.  Regardless of how one would view his beliefs, Charleston, South Carolina now has a political legend buried here.  Just by taking a few moments to visit the gravesite and witnessing the burial grounds, people far and wide can truly appreciate much of what Charleston has to offer in regards to political legends.

               

Langdon Cheves Obelisk

      

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[i] The White House. (n.d.). Andrew Jackson. Retrieved from https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/andrew-jackson/

[ii] Richards, M. (2016, April 15). Cheves, Langdon. Retrieved from http://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/cheves-langdon/

[iii] Schulman, M. (n.d.). Cheves, Langdon biography. Retrieved from https://www.historycentral.com/Bio/nn/Cheves.html

[iv] Richards, M. (2016, April 15). Cheves, Langdon. Retrieved from http://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/cheves-langdon/

[v] Indiana University Library. (2012). War Hawks. Retrieved from https://collections.libraries.indiana.edu/warof1812/exhibits/show/warof1812/before/war-hawks

[vi] Richards, M. (2016, April 15). Cheves, Langdon. Retrieved from http://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/cheves-langdon/

[vii] Office of the Historian. (n.d.). CHEVES, Langdon. Retrieved from https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/10892

[viii] Huff, A. (2004). Biographical Information on Cheves. Retrieved from http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=c000350