Editing Langdon Cheves (section)

====War Mess====
[[File:Henry Clay.JPG|thumb|left|180px|The election of Cheves's housemate [[Henry Clay]] as Speaker of the House marked the opening victory for the war faction in the 12th Congress.]]
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.{{sfn|Huff|1977|pp=54–56}}

At the opening of the Congress in a special session on November 4, 1811, Clay was overwhelmingly elected Speaker of the House.{{sfn|Huff|1977|pp=54–56}} He proceeded to appoint War Mess men to key committee posts. Calhoun and Grundy were appointed on the Foreign Relations Committee, Lowndes on Commerce and Manufactures, and Cheves was given the chairmanship of the Select Committee on Naval Affairs. He was made second man on the powerful Committee on Ways and Means.{{sfn|Huff|1977|pp=54–56}}

In March 1812, the War Mess privately pressed Madison, through Monroe, to request an embargo of British trade, followed by formal declaration of war from Congress. Madison eventually agreed, and the United States [[United States declaration of war upon the United Kingdom|formally declared war against Great Britain]] on June 18. Cheves later remembered that the War Mess were "like school boys, [they] sprang up, and in the excess of their joy danced... [[Reel (dance)|a reel]]."{{sfn|Huff|1977|pp=62–63}}