Dutee Jerauld Pearce

Dutee Jerauld Pearce (April 3, 1789 – May 9, 1849) was an American politician, lawyer, and United States Representative from Rhode Island. He was born on Prudence Island, Rhode Island, the son of Samuel Pearce and Hannah Jerauld Pearce. Raised in the maritime and commercial environment of Narragansett Bay, he came of age in the early national period of the United States, a context that would shape his later legal and political career.

Pearce pursued higher education at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, graduating in 1808. While at Brown he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, reflecting distinguished academic performance. After completing his collegiate studies, he read law, was admitted to the bar, and commenced legal practice in Newport, Rhode Island. His professional life quickly intertwined with public service, and Newport became both his legal base and his long-term residence.

In addition to his private legal practice, Pearce held a series of important state and federal legal offices. He served as Attorney General of Rhode Island from 1819 to 1825, a period during which he was responsible for representing the state in legal matters and overseeing criminal prosecutions. Concurrently, he was appointed United States district attorney in 1824 and 1825, acting as the federal government’s chief prosecutor in the district. Pearce also served as a member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, participating in the legislative affairs of the state before rising to national office.

Pearce’s congressional career began in the mid-1820s and extended over six consecutive terms, during a formative era in the Second Party System and the realignment of national politics. He was elected as an Adams candidate to the Nineteenth Congress (serving from March 4, 1825) and reelected in the same political alignment to the Twentieth Congress. As national politics shifted around the presidency of Andrew Jackson, Pearce was elected as an Anti-Jacksonian to the Twenty-first and Twenty-second Congresses. He subsequently aligned with the Anti-Masonic Party and was elected as an Anti-Masonic candidate to the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Congresses. In total, he represented Rhode Island in the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1825, to March 3, 1837. During his tenure he served as chairman of the Committee on Revisal and Unfinished Business in both the Twentieth and Twenty-first Congresses, overseeing the disposition of pending legislative matters. As a member of the Anti-Masonic Party representing Rhode Island, Pearce contributed to the legislative process during six terms in office, participating in the democratic process and representing the interests of his constituents at a time of intense debate over federal power, economic policy, and political reform.

Pearce was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1836 to the Twenty-fifth Congress, bringing his twelve-year congressional career to a close. After leaving the House of Representatives in March 1837, he resumed the practice of law in Newport. He remained active in Rhode Island’s civic and political life, and his legal and political experience continued to draw him into major state controversies in the 1840s.

In the early 1840s, Pearce became involved in the Dorr Rebellion of 1842–1843, a major political conflict in Rhode Island over suffrage and constitutional reform. At that time, voting in Rhode Island was still governed by the colonial charter and was largely restricted to landowning men with property valued at $134 or more. Reformers led by Thomas Wilson Dorr organized a “People’s Convention” in 1841 to draft a new constitution providing for universal white male suffrage. When Black residents petitioned for inclusion in the new constitution, Dorr and many delegates initially supported Black suffrage. However, Pearce, serving as a delegate from Newport, argued that including Black suffrage would alienate broader white support needed to secure adoption of the proposed constitution. The convention subsequently voted 46 to 18 to limit suffrage to white men. After the existing state government rejected both the convention and a popular vote in favor of the new constitution, Pearce and other Dorrite leaders were accused of treason following an abortive attempt by Dorr’s supporters to seize the state arsenal in Providence. In the course of his defense, Pearce sought assistance from his former congressional colleague and ally, former President John Quincy Adams. In the ensuing months, abolitionists and suffrage reformers succeeded in removing the word “white” from the proposed constitution, which was then adopted in an overwhelming referendum, undercutting Pearce’s earlier argument that Black suffrage would prevent its ratification.

Pearce’s personal life was marked by two marriages and a large family. He married Abigail Coggershall, with whom he had seven children: Samuel, Hannah Jerould, Abby Perry, Abigail, Ann Townsend, Catherine P., and Dutee J. Pearce. After the death of his first wife on July 4, 1827, he married Harriet Boss. With his second wife he had two additional children, Dutee Jerauld and Harriet Boss Pearce. His family connections and standing in Newport’s professional community reinforced his prominence in Rhode Island’s legal and political circles.

Dutee Jerauld Pearce died in Newport, Rhode Island, on May 9, 1849, at the age of 60 years and 36 days. He was interred in the Common Burial Ground in Providence, Rhode Island. His career spanned state and federal office, from attorney general and United States district attorney to six terms in Congress, and his later involvement in the Dorr Rebellion placed him at the center of Rhode Island’s contentious transition from colonial-era suffrage restrictions to a more democratic constitutional order.