John Eager Howard


John Eager Howard 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 Congress of the United States and the U.S. Senate. In the 1816 presidential election, Howard received 22 electoral votes for vice president on the Federalist Party ticket with Rufus King. The ticket lost in a landslide.
Howard County, Maryland, is named for him, along with Eager Street and Howard Street in Baltimore.

Early life and education

He was the son of Cornelius Howard and Ruth Howard, of the Maryland planter elite and was born at their plantation "The Forest." Howard grew up in an Anglican slaveholding family. Anglicanism was the established church of the Chesapeake Bay colonies.
Howard joined a Baltimore lodge of Freemasons.

Military career

Commissioned a captain at the beginning of the American Revolutionary War, Howard rose in 1777 to the rank of colonel in the Maryland Line of the Continental Army, fighting in the Battle of White Plains in New York State in 1776 and in the Battle of Monmouth in New Jersey in 1778. He was awarded a silver medal by the Confederation Congress for his leadership at the 1781 Battle of Cowpens in South Carolina, during which he commanded the 2nd Maryland Regiment, Continental Army. In September 1781, he was wounded in a bayonet charge at the Battle of Eutaw Springs in South Carolina. Southern Army commander Maj.Gen. Nathanael Greene wrote that Howard was "as good an officer as the world affords. He has great ability and the best disposition to promote the service....He deserves a statue of gold."

Political life

Following his army service, Howard held several electoral political positions: elected to the Confederation Congress in 1788; fifth Governor of Maryland for three one-year terms, from 1788 through 1791; later as State Senator from 1791 through 1795; and Presidential Elector in the new 1787 Constitutional Electoral College set up in the presidential Election of 1792. He declined the offer from first President George Washington in 1795 to be the second Secretary of War. He joined the newly organized Federalist Party and was elected to the 4th U.S. Congress from November 21, 1796, through 1797, by the General Assembly of Maryland to the upper chamber as United States Senator for the remainder of the term of Richard Potts, who had resigned. He was elected by the Legislature in Annapolis for a Senate term of his own in 1797, which included the 5th Congress, the 6th Congress of 1799–1801 during which he was President pro tempore, and the 7th Congress, serving until March 3, 1803.
Although Howard was offered an appointment as the Secretary of War in the administration of President George Washington, he declined it. Similarly, he also later declined a 1798 commission as Brigadier General in the newly organized United States Army during the preparations for the coming naval Quasi-War with the new revolutionary French Republic.
After 1803, Howard returned to Baltimore, where he avoided elected office but continued in public service and philanthropy as a leading citizen. He was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1815. In the 1816 presidential election, he received 22 electoral votes for Vice President as the running mate of Federalist Rufus King, losing to the Democratic-Republican candidates of James Monroe and Governor Daniel Tompkins. No formal Federalist nomination had been made, and it is not clear whether Howard himself, who was one of several Federalists who received electoral votes for vice president, actually wanted to run as a candidate for the office.
Howard developed property in the city of Baltimore and was active in city planning. His house was constructed near the city, where he owned slaves.

Marriage and family

John Eager Howard married Margaret Chew, daughter of the Pennsylvania justice Benjamin Chew, in 1787.
John Eager Howard died in 1827. He is buried at the Old Saint Paul's Cemetery, located between West Lombard Street and present-day Martin Luther King Boulevard in Baltimore.