Benjamin Chew Howard (November 5, 1791 – March 6, 1872) was a Maryland 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 fifth

reporter of decisions The Reporter of Decisions (sometimes known by other titles, such as Official Reporter or State Reporter) is the official responsible for publishing the decisions of a court. Traditionally, the decisions were published in books known as case repor ...

of the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point ...

, serving from 1843 to 1860.

Early life and education

Howard was born at Belvidere in

Baltimore County, Maryland Baltimore County ( , locally: or ) is the third-most populous county in the U.S. state of Maryland and is part of the Baltimore metropolitan area. Baltimore County (which partially surrounds, though does not include, the independent City of ...

, the son of John Eager Howard and Margaret ("Peggy") Chew, daughter of Benjamin Chew. He received an A.B. from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the n ...

in 1809. In 1812 he attended and graduated from Litchfield Law School in Connecticut. During 1814, the last year of the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It ...

he served as a Captain in the First Mechanical Volunteers at the Battle of North Point. He remained in the service and later he reached the rank of brigadier general in the Maryland militia.

Marriage and family

Among his siblings were George Howard, Governor of Maryland; Dr. William Howard, a civil engineer and architect; and Charles who with his son

Francis Key Howard Frank Key Howard (October 25, 1826 – May 29, 1872) (also cited as Francis Key Howard) was the grandson of Francis Scott Key and Revolutionary War colonel John Eager Howard. Howard was the editor of the '' Daily Exchange'', a Baltimore news ...

, were imprisoned in

Fort McHenry Fort McHenry is a historical American coastal pentagonal bastion fort on Locust Point, now a neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. It is best known for its role in the War of 1812, when it successfully defended Baltimore Harbor from an attack ...

at the start of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

. 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.

Political life

A Democrat, he served on the city council of

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

in 1820 and in both houses of the

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; ...

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 Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame a ...

named

Richard Rush Richard Rush (August 29, 1780 – July 30, 1859) was the 8th United States Attorney General and the 8th United States Secretary of the Treasury. He also served as John Quincy Adams's running mate on the National Republican ticket in 1828. Born ...

and Howard to arbitrate the

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

boundary dispute A territorial dispute or boundary dispute is a disagreement over the possession or control of land between two or more political entities. Context and definitions Territorial disputes are often related to the possession of natural resources ...

. 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. In 1861, he was one of the emissaries sent by outgoing President

James Buchanan James Buchanan Jr. ( ; April 23, 1791June 1, 1868) was an American lawyer, diplomat and politician who served as the 15th president of the United States from 1857 to 1861. He previously served as secretary of state from 1845 to 1849 and repr ...

to try to secure a peace with the

Confederacy Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between ...

. That year he unsuccessfully ran for

Governor of Maryland The Governor of the State of Maryland is the head of government of Maryland, and is the commander-in-chief of the state's National Guard units. The Governor is the highest-ranking official in the state and has a broad range of appointive power ...

. He died in Baltimore at his home on March 6, 1872 and is buried in Greenmount Cemetery.

''
United States Reports The ''United States Reports'' () are the official record ( law reports) of the Supreme Court of the United States. They include rulings, orders, case tables (list of every case decided), in alphabetical order both by the name of the petitioner ...
''

Starting with the 42nd volume of ''United States Reports'', Howard was the

Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States The reporter of decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States is the official charged with editing and publishing the opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States, both when announced and when they are published in permanent bound volu ...

, serving from 1843 to 1860. His term covered volumes 42 through 65 of ''US Reports'', corresponding to volumes 1 through 24 of his

nominative In grammar, the nominative case ( abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or (in Latin and formal variants of ...

''Howard’s Reports''. As such, the dual form of citation to, for example, the Supreme Court decision in ''Williams v. United States'' is 42 U.S. (1 How.) 290 (1843).

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Benjamin Chew 1791 births 1872 deaths United States Army personnel of the War of 1812 Baltimore City Council members Democratic Party Maryland state senators Democratic Party members of the Maryland House of Delegates Princeton University alumni Reporters of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States American militia generals Jacksonian members of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland 19th-century American politicians Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland Howard family of Maryland Chew family