Background
Howard, Benjamin Chew was born on November 5, 1791 in “Belvedere” near Baltimore. Son of Colonel John Eager and Peggy (Chew) Howard.
United States representative politician
Howard, Benjamin Chew was born on November 5, 1791 in “Belvedere” near Baltimore. Son of Colonel John Eager and Peggy (Chew) Howard.
He received an Bachelor of Arts 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 United States. 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.
Served as captain Mechanics Volunteers of Baltimore during War of 1812. Member Maryland. House of Delegates, 1824.
Member 1829-1833, 35-39, chairman foreign relations committee.
Member United States House of Representatives, 21st-22d, 24th-25th congresses, Maryland. Senate, 1840-1841.
Married Jane Grant Gilmore, 1818.
