Benjamin Chew Howard (November 5, 1791 – March 6, 1872) 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 fifth reporter of decisions of the United States Supreme Court, serving from 1843 to 1860.
Early life and education
Howard was born at Belvidere in Baltimore County, Maryland, the son of John Eager Howard and Margaret ("Peggy") Chew, daughter of Benjamin Chew. He received an A.B. from Princeton University in 1809. In 1812 he attended and graduated from Litchfield Law School in Connecticut.
War of 1812
During 1814, the last year of the War of 1812 he served as a Captain in the First Mechanical Volunteers, a company of the 5th Maryland Regiment at the Battle of North Point. The battle would become the turning point of the War. He remained in the service and later he reached the rank of brigadier general in the Maryland militia.
Political life
A Democrat, he served on the city council of Baltimore in 1820 and in 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.