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 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 John Street, Eager Street and Howard Street in Baltimore. For seven days in November 1800, Howard was the President pro tempore of the United States Senate. Early life and education He was the son of Cornelius Howard and Ruth (Eager) 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.