Benjamin Chew Howard | |
|---|---|
 portrait by Henry Inman | |
| Born | November 5, 1791  |
| Died | March 6, 1872 (aged 80) |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation | Politician,lawyer |
| Spouse(s) | Jane Gilmor Howard |
| Parent(s) | |
| Relatives | George Howard |
| Position held | united States Representative (1829–1831), member of the Maryland House of Delegates |
Benjamin Chew Howard (November 5, 1791 – March 6, 1872)[1] was an American politician and lawyer. After serving on the city council of Baltimore in 1820 and in both houses of the Maryland legislature, he was a Representative in the United States Congress from 1829 to 1833, and from 1835 to 1839. He was thereafter the fifthreporter of decisions of theUnited States Supreme Court, serving from 1843 to 1860.
Howard was born at Belvidere inBaltimore County, Maryland, the son ofJohn Eager Howard andMargaret ("Peggy") Chew, daughter ofBenjamin Chew. He received anA.B. fromPrinceton University in 1809.[2] In 1812 he attended and graduated from Litchfield Law School in Connecticut.[3]
During 1814, the last year of theWar of 1812 he served as a Captain in the First Mechanical Volunteers, a company of the 5th Maryland Regiment at theBattle of North Point. The battle would become the turning point of the War.[4] He remained in the service and later he reached the rank of brigadier general in the Maryland militia.[2]
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Among his siblings wereGeorge Howard, Governor of Maryland;Dr. William Howard, a civil engineer and architect; and Charles who with his sonFrancis Key Howard, were imprisoned inFort McHenry at the start of theAmerican Civil War. In 1818 he married Jane Gilmor who would write a charity cookbook and after the Civil War lead a successful fundraising fair. They had twelve children.[5]
ADemocrat, he served on the city council ofBaltimore in 1820 and in both houses of theMaryland legislature. He was elected to theTwenty-first andTwenty-second United States Congress, serving from March 4, 1829 to March 3, 1833. In 1835, PresidentAndrew Jackson namedRichard Rush and Howard to arbitrate theOhio-Michiganboundary dispute.[1]
He returned to Congress in theTwenty-fourth Congress and was re-elected to theTwenty-fifth, serving from March 4, 1835, to March 3, 1839. During this service, he chaired the House Foreign Relations Committee for four years.
In 1861, he was one of the emissaries sent by outgoing PresidentJames Buchanan to try to secure a peace with theConfederacy. That year heunsuccessfully ran forGovernor of Maryland. He died in Baltimore at his home on March 6, 1872 and is buried inGreenmount Cemetery.[1]
Starting with the 42nd volume ofUnited States Reports, Howard was theReporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving from 1843 to 1860. His term covered volumes 42 through 65 ofUS Reports, corresponding to volumes 1 through 24 of hisnominativeHoward's Reports. As such, the dual form of citation to, for example, the Supreme Court decision inWilliams v. United States is 42 U.S. (1 How.) 290 (1843).
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forGovernor of Maryland 1861 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromMaryland's 5th congressional district 1829–1833 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromMaryland's 4th congressional district 1835–1839 | Succeeded by |
| Legal offices | ||
| Preceded by | United States Supreme Court Reporter of Decisions 1843–1860 | Succeeded by |
Taney Court (1836–1864) | |||||||||||||||
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