He helped bring the AME Church, the first independent black denomination in the United States, to Florida and worked to build its congregation during and after the Reconstruction era.

Pearce was born into slavery in Maryland and bought his freedom[citation needed] then moved North to New Haven, Connecticut, where he was ordained, and later to Canada, where he served as a preacher and became a British citizen.

While helping establish new congregations of the AME Church, Pearce also joined the Republican Party and built political power through these networks.

In this period, during the Reconstruction Era, he was considered the political boss of Leon County, Florida,[3] where the freedmen constituted the majority of the population.

Pearce also helped establish educational institutions, including the predecessor to what became Edward Waters College in Jacksonville, Florida, which was affiliated with the AME Church.

Although he was pardoned on April 29, 1872, by Acting Governor Samuel T. Day and E. M. Randall, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, as certified in December 1876 by the Secretary of State in Florida, votes cast for him in the presidential election were not accepted.

His opponents noted there was no provision under Florida law to allow a convicted felon, even though pardoned, to regain his right to vote or serve as an elector.