Charles Benedict Calvert

Charles Benedict Calvert ( born August 24, 1808 in Riverdale, Prince George's County, Maryland, † May 12, 1864 ) was an American politician. Between 1861 and 1863 he represented the state of Maryland in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

Charles Calvert attended Bladensburg Academy and then studied until 1827 at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Thereafter, he worked in agriculture and especially in the field of animal husbandry. At the same time he embarked on a political career. In the years 1839, 1843 and 1844 he sat in the House of Representatives from Maryland. Calvert became involved in various agricultural organizations. He was chairman of the Agricultural Society in Prince George's County and the Agricultural Society of Maryland. At the federal level, he was Vice President of the United States Agricultural Society. Calvert founded the Agricultural Research College, from which the Maryland Agricultural College emerged in 1856. He sat down vehemently for the creation of a federal Department of Agriculture; this proposal was not realized until after his death.

In the congressional elections of 1860 Calvert was a Unionist in the sixth electoral district of Maryland in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he became the successor of George Wurtz Hughes on March 4, 1861. Since he resigned in 1862 to run again, he was able to complete only one term in Congress until March 3, 1863. This was marked by the events of the Civil War.

After the end of his time in the U.S. House of Representatives Charles Calvert took his previous activities in agriculture again. He died on 12 May 1864 in his hometown of Riverdale.