Benjamin Chew Howard

Benjamin Chew Howard (November 5, 1791 – March 6, 1872) was an American congressman and the fifth reporter of decisions of the United States Supreme Court, serving from 1843 to 1861.

Howard was born in Baltimore County, Maryland, the son of John Eager Howard and grandson of Benjamin Chew. He received an A.B. from Princeton University in 1809 and in 1812 he attended Litchfield Law School in Connecticut. His study of law was interrupted by his service in the War of 1812 and later he reached the rank of brigadier general in the Maryland militia. A Democrat, he served on the city council of Baltimore in 1820 and both houses of the Maryland legislature. He was elected to the Twenty-first and Twenty-second United States Congress, serving from March 4, 1829 to March 3, 1833. In 1835, President Andrew Jackson named Richard Rush and Howard to arbitrate the Ohio-Michigan boundary dispute.

He returned to Congress in the Twenty-fourth Congress and was re-elected to the Twenty-fifth, serving from March 4, 1835, to March 3, 1839. During this service, he chaired the House Foreign Relations Committee for four years. He resigned from the position of Reporter for the U.S. Supreme Court in 1861.

In 1861, he was one of the emissaries sent by President James Buchanan to try to secure a peace with the Confederacy. That year he unsuccessfully ran for Governor of Maryland. He died in Baltimore and is buried in Greenmount Cemetery.

References

• Benjamin Chew Howard at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress Retrieved on 2008-04-03

External links

• Works by Benjamin Chew Howard at Project Gutenberg

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by John Barney and Peter Little	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland's 5th congressional district 1829–1833	Succeeded by Isaac McKim
Preceded by James P. Heath	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland's 4th congressional district 1835–1839	Succeeded by James Carroll and Solomon Hillen
Legal offices
Preceded by Richard Peters	United States Supreme Court Reporter of Decisions 1843–1861	Succeeded by Jeremiah S. Black