Cheves, Langdon, American banker: b. in Abbeville district, S.C., Sept 17, 1776; d. Columbia, S.C., June 26, 1857. He began to study law at the age of 18, and rapidly attained eminence and wealth in its practice. As a representative in the national Congress before and after the War of 1812, he zealously supported the party which carried the declaration of war. In 1812 he was chairman of the Naval Committee and in 1813 of the Ways and Means Committee: he became speaker of the House in the Thirteenth Congress when Henry Clay was sent as commissioner to Ghent. In 1815 he returned to his law practice, but in 1819 accepted the position of president of the United States Bank. The bank had become hard pressed and was on the verge of closing, but Cheves, by rigorous retrenchment, and by making credits only upon sufficient securities, saved it, and specie payments were maintained at the principal centers of commerce. He withdrew from public life because of his convictions on the dangers of separate state action.