Dutee Jerauld Pearce (April 3, 1789 – May 9, 1849) was an American politician and a

United States Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

from

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

Early life

Born on

Prudence Island Prudence Island is the third-largest island in Narragansett Bay in the state of Rhode Island and part of the town of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, United States. It is located near the geographic center of the bay. It is defined by the United St ...

, Pearce graduated from

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

in 1808, and was a member of

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

. He studied law and was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

and commenced practice in

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...

Career

Pearce held various local offices including Attorney general of Rhode Island in 1819–1825 and United States district attorney in 1824 and 1825. He served as member of the

Rhode Island House of Representatives The Rhode Island House of Representatives is the lower house of the Rhode Island General Assembly, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Rhode Island, the upper house being the Rhode Island Senate. It is ...

. Pearce was elected as an Adams candidate to the Nineteenth and Twentieth Congresses; as an Anti-Jacksonian to the Twenty-first and Twenty-second Congresses; and as an Anti-Masonic candidate to the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Congresses. He served in the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1825, to March 3, 1837. He was chairman of the Committee on Revisal and Unfinished Business (Twentieth and Twenty-first Congresses). An unsuccessful candidate for re-election in 1836 to the Twenty-fifth Congress, Pearce resumed his practice. Pearce participated in the so-called Dorr Rebellion of 1842-43 which was an effort to extend suffrage in Rhode Island which had been limited to landowning men holding $134 or more in property. Thomas Dorr and followers organized a People's Convention in 1841 to draft a new constitution featuring universal male suffrage. When black residents asked that blacks be included in the proposed constitution, Dorr and others agreed. However Newport delegate Pearce argued that including black suffrage would alienate subsequent wider white support needed to adopt the proposed constitution. The convention then voted 46 to 18 to limit suffrage to white men. In 1842 after the existing state government rejected the results of the convention and a popular vote in favor of the new constitution, Pearce and others were accused of treason after an attempt by Dorrites to capture the Providence armory. Pearce then sought assistance in his defense from Congressman and former President

John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was the sixth president of the United States, serving from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States secretary of state from 1817 to 1825. During his long diploma ...

. In following months, abolitionists succeeded in eliminating the word white in the proposed new constitution which was then adopted in an overwhelming referendum, proving Pearce wrong.

Death

Pearce died in Newport on May 9, 1849 (age 60 years, 36 days). He is

interred Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and object ...

in the Common Burial Ground,

Family life

Son of Samuel and Hannah Jerauld Pearce, he married Abigail Coggershall and they had seven children: Samuel, Hannah Jerould, Abby Perry, Abigail, Ann Townsend, Catherine P, and Dutee J Pearce. After the death of his wife on July 4, 1827, Pearce married Harriet Boss and had two children, Dutee Jerauld and Harriet Boss Pearce.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pearce, Dutee Jerauld 1789 births 1849 deaths Members of the United States House of Representatives from Rhode Island Rhode Island attorneys general Brown University alumni Rhode Island National Republicans Anti-Masonic Party politicians from Rhode Island People from Portsmouth, Rhode Island National Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives Anti-Masonic Party members of the United States House of Representatives Burials at Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery United States attorneys for the District of Rhode Island 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives 19th-century members of the Rhode Island General Assembly