John Eager Howard

John Eager Howard (June 4, 1752 – October 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 Congress of the Confederation, the United States Senate, and the Maryland 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 to Democratic-Republicans James Monroe and Daniel D. Tompkins in a landslide.

Howard County, Maryland, is named for him, as are three streets in Baltimore. For seven days in November 1800, Howard was president pro tempore of the Senate.

Early life and education John Eager Howard was the son of Cornelius Howard and Ruth (Eager) Howard, of the Maryland planter elite and was born at their plantation "The Forest" in Baltimore County, Maryland. Howard grew up in an Anglican slaveholding family.

Howard joined a Baltimore lodge of Freemasons. In September 1781, he was wounded in a bayonet charge at the Battle of Eutaw Springs. Major General 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."

At the conclusion of the war, Colonel Howard was admitted as an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati of Maryland. He went on to serve as the vice president (1795–1804) and president (1804–1827) of the Society in Maryland.

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 elector in the presidential election of 1792. He declined an offer from George Washington in 1795 to serve as Secretary of War. He subsequently joined the newly organized Federalist Party and was elected to the Senate of the Fourth Congress by the General Assembly of Maryland to serve the remainder of the term of Richard Potts, who had resigned. He was elected to a Senate term of his own in 1797, serving until March 3, 1803, and briefly served as president pro tempore of the Senate in November 1800. 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

Marriage and family

Howard married Margaret ("Peggy") Chew, daughter of Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice Benjamin Chew, in 1787. In 1904, the city of Baltimore commissioned an equestrian statue of Howard by Emmanuel Frémiet and installed it at Washington Place in Mount Vernon. Three streets in Baltimore are named for Howard: John Street, Eager Street, and Howard Street. Howard appears in John Trumbull's 1824 painting General George Washington Resigning His Commission, which was featured on the reverse of the United States five-thousand-dollar bill.