James Alfred Pearce was born on December 14, 1805 in Alexandria, Alexandria City, Virginia, United States. He was descended in the fifth generation from William Pearce who emigrated from Scotland to the Eastern Shore of Maryland about 1670. The eldest child of Gideon and Julia (Dick) Pearce, he was born at the home of his maternal grandfather, Elisha Dick, in Alexandria, Virginia, then in the District of Columbia.
The death of his mother when James Alfred Pearce was only three years old left his early education under the direction of his grandfather, who is best known as Washington's physician. From a private academy at Alexandria he entered the College of New Jersey (Princeton) at the age of fourteen and was graduated in 1822 with high rank. Then applying himself to the study of law in the office of Judge John Glenn in Baltimore, he gained admission to the bar in 1824.
James Alfred Pearce commenced the practice of his profession at Cambridge, Maryland, but his career was interrupted within a year by his removal to his father's plantation on the Red River in Louisiana, where for three years he engaged in sugar planting. When he returned to Maryland, it was to resume the practice of law at Chestertown, though he at the same time found expression for his agricultural tastes by cultivating a farm successfully. His legal career was again interrupted in 1831, when he was elected to the legislature of Maryland, from which he passed in 1835 to Congress. With the exception of a single term, that of 1839 - 1841 when he lost his seat by a small majority in the only defeat of his experience, he sat as a Whig member in the House of Representatives from 1835 to 1843. In the latter year he was transferred to the Senate, where he continued through three successive elections to hold his seat until his death.
James Alfred Pearce was reelected as a Democrat the last time in 1859 after the disruption of the Whig party. It was probably in the committee rooms that his influence as a senator was most felt, for there his analytical mind, the extent of his information, his industry, and his patience for details gave his opinions authority. A man of broad cultural interests, his natural inclinations caused him to give especial attention on matters of education and science. During this long period of service he interested himself in the welfare of the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Coast Survey. In the decoration of public buildings, sculptors found in him an ever-ready friend.
For years James Alfred Pearce served on the board of visitors and governors of Washington College at Chestertown, Maryland, where he also lectured on law from 1850 to 1862. After careful thought he opposed the concessions to Texas concerning the New Mexico territory proposed in the compromise measures of 1850 and succeeded in having the bill amended, an action that resulted in bitter feeling between him and Clay. He was in advance of his time in the firm stand he took against the spoils system and in favor of arbitration of the Oregon boundary dispute with England. Convinced that he was more useful in the Senate, he declined two positions offered him by President Fillmore: a seat on the federal bench of the district court of Maryland and a position as secretary of the interior. The fact that his name was repeatedly mentioned for the presidency, though probably not seriously, indicates a man who rose above the regular senatorial group.
During the heated debates of the last slavery years, James Alfred Pearce constantly opposed agitation as calculated to increase the discords that were dividing the country. Confronted with the actual fact of disunion, he deplored secession as ill-advised but equally deplored a union preserved by force. He soon found himself one of a small group which were futile against a dominant majority. Owing to failing health, he did not enter the Senate after March 24, 1862, though he lingered nine months. James Alfred Pearce died on December 20, 1862.
James Alfred Pearce was social, genial, even playful with his intimates. He enjoyed warm and deep friendships. A brilliant conversationalist, Pearce was at his best in a small circle.
On October 6, 1829, James Alfred Pearce was married to Martha J. Laird, who died in 1845. They had three children. His second wife was Mathilda Cox (Ringgold) Pearce, whom Pearce had married on March 22, 1847. They had one children.
