“M” is for McCord, Louisa Susanna Cheves (1810-1879). Essayist, poet. A native Charlestonian, Louisa married a Columbia lawyer and settled there. Although she wrote poetry in her twenties, McCord is best remembered for the essays she produced in the fifteen years prior to the Civil War. In her writings she synthesized contemporary thought on the defense of slavery, women’s subordination, and political economy. Published under the initials “LSM,” her essays appeared in important southern journals such as De Bow’s Review and Southern Quarterly Review. She warned that abolitionists and the emerging women’s rights movement exposed the nation to unrestrained violence from the working classes. Louisa Susanna Cheves McCord’s essays were well received and praised by her male contemporaries and were reflective of the dominant opinions of South Carolina’s elite in the decades prior to the Civil War.
“M” is for McCord, Louisa Susanna Cheves (1810-1879)
