James Pearce
| James Alfred Pearce | |
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United States Senator from Maryland |
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In office March 4, 1843 – December 20, 1862 |
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| Preceded by | John L. Kerr |
| Succeeded by | Thomas H. Hicks |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland's 2nd district |
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In office March 4, 1835 – March 3, 1839 |
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| Preceded by | Richard B. Carmichael |
| Succeeded by | Philip Thomas |
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In office March 4, 1841 – March 3, 1843 |
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| Preceded by | Philip Thomas |
| Succeeded by | Francis Brengle |
| Member of the Maryland House of Delegates | |
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In office 1831-1835 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
December 14, 1805 Alexandria, Virginia, US |
| Died | December 20, 1862 (aged 57) Chestertown, Maryland, US |
| Political party | Whig, Democrat |
| Alma mater | College of New Jersey |
| Profession | Politician, Lawyer |
James Alfred Pearce (December 14, 1805 – December 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 to 1839 and 1841 to 1843. He later served as a U.S. Senator from Maryland from 1843 until his death in 1862.
Pearce was in born Alexandria, Virginia, the son of Gideon Pearce and Julia Dick, and the grandson of Elisha C. Dick. When he turned four years old, his mother died; his father moved to Louisiana to become a sugar planter, leaving his son in Alexandria to the care of grandparents.
Pearce attended a private academy in Alexandria and entered the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1819. He graduated in 1822 at the age of seventeen with honors and started studying law in Baltimore under Judge John Glenn and attorney David Hoffman (1784–1854), an American legal ethics pioneer and author of Fifty Resolutions in Regard to Professional Deportment (1836). There was a requirement for aspiring jurists set by the Maryland legislature for at least three years of legal studies under the guidance of practicing lawyers (in 1831 it was lowered to two years). Ahead of time, in 1824, Pearce passed exams and was admitted to the Maryland Bar, commencing practice in Cambridge, Maryland for a year. In 1825, Pearce moved with his father in Louisiana, and briefly engaged in sugar planting business, then he returned to Kent County, Maryland, in 1828, where he started the practice of law in Chestertown.
In 1829, Pearce married Martha J. Laird; they were raising 3 children in Chestertown, Maryland until 1845, when Martha died. In 1847, Pearce remarried, his new wife became Matilda Cox Ringgold; they had one child. His son, James Alfred Pearce, Jr., became a judge for the Maryland Court of Appeals.
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