James Pearce

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James Alfred Pearce
James Pearce

In office
March 4, 1843 – December 20, 1862
Preceded by John L. Kerr
Succeeded by Thomas H. Hicks

Born December 14, 1805(1805-12-14)
Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.
Died December 20, 1862 (aged 57)
Chestertown, Maryland, U.S.
Political party Whig, Democrat
Profession Politician, Lawyer

James Alfred Pearce (December 14, 1805December 20, 1862) was an American politician. He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing the second district of Maryland from 1835-1839 and 1841-1843. He later served as a U.S. Senator from Maryland from 1843 until his death in 1862.

Pearce was born in Alexandria, Virginia, and, as a youth, attended a private academy there. He graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1822. He later studied law, and was admitted to the bar, commencing practice in Cambridge, Maryland, in 1824. Pearce moved to Louisiana in 1825 and engaged in sugar planting, returning to Kent County, Maryland, in 1828, where he resumed the practice of law in Chestertown.

From 1831 until 1835, Pearce was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates. He was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Congresses, serving from March 4, 1835 until March 3, 1839, but was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1838 to the Twenty-sixth Congress, losing to Philip Thomas. He was again elected to Congress in 1840, and served one term from March 4, 1841, until March 3, 1843.

Pearce was elected as a Whig to the United States Senate in 1843, and was re-elected in 1849, 1855, and 1861, the last time as a Democrat, and served from March 4, 1843, until his death in 1862. In the Senate, Pearce served as chairman of the Committee on the Library (Twenty-ninth through Thirty-seventh Congresses). He also served as chairman of the Committee on Finance for two months in 1861. He died in Chestertown in 1862, and is interred in New Chester Cemetery.

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Preceded by
Richard B. Carmichael
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Maryland's 2nd congressional district

1835 – 1839
Succeeded by
Philip Thomas
Preceded by
Philip Thomas
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Maryland's 2nd congressional district

1841 – 1843
Succeeded by
Francis Brengle
Preceded by
John L. Kerr
United States Senator (Class 3) from Maryland
March 4, 1843December 20, 1862
Served alongside: William D. Merrick, Reverdy Johnson, David Stewart,
Thomas G. Pratt, Anthony Kennedy
Succeeded by
Thomas H. Hicks
Preceded by
Robert M.T. Hunter
Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee
1861
Succeeded by
William Pitt Fessenden

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