Editing Langdon Cheves (section)

===Legal career===
In spite of the advice of his friends, who thought him "born to be a merchant,"{{citation needed|date=July 2021}} 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.{{sfn|Huff|1977|pp=25–30}}

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 (congressman)|William Lowndes]].{{sfn|Huff|1977|pp=25–30}}

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 ${{Inflation|US|20000|1808|fmt=c}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}).{{sfn|Huff|1977|pp=31–32}}

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.{{sfn|Huff|1977|pp=43–44}}

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.{{sfn|Huff|1977|pp=43–44}}