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 o ...

, serving from 1843 to 1860.

Early life and education

Howard was born at Belvidere in Baltimore County, Maryland, the son of

John Eager Howard John Eager Howard (June 4, 1752October 12, 1827) was an American soldier and politician from Maryland. He was elected as governor of the state in 1788, and served three one-year terms. He also was elected to the Continental Congress, the Cong ...

and Margaret ("Peggy") Chew, daughter of

Benjamin Chew Benjamin Chew (November 19, 1722 – January 20, 1810) was a fifth-generation American, a Quaker-born legal scholar, a prominent and successful Philadelphia lawyer, slaveowner, head of the Pennsylvania Judiciary System under both Colony and Com ...

. He received an

A.B. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

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 ...

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, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

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, 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 states ...

. 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

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

, 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 state in the 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; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

legislature. He was elected to the Twenty-first and

Twenty-second United States Congress The 22nd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 183 ...

, 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 as ...

named Richard Rush and Howard to arbitrate the

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

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 s ...

. He returned to Congress in the

Twenty-fourth Congress The 24th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1835, ...

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 to try to secure a peace with the Confederacy. 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 powers ...

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

Greenmount Cemetery Green Mount Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Established on March 15, 1838, and dedicated on July 13, 1839, it is noted for the large number of historical figures interred in its grounds as well as man ...

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