Gerry was at first opposed to the idea of political parties and cultivated enduring friendships on both sides of the political divide betweenFederalists andDemocratic-Republicans. He was a member of a diplomatic delegation to France that was treated poorly in theXYZ Affair, in which Federalists held him responsible for a breakdown in negotiations. Gerry thereafter became a Democratic-Republican, running unsuccessfully forGovernor of Massachusetts several times before winning the office in 1810. During his second term, the legislature approved new state senate districts that led to the coining of the word "gerrymander"; he lost the next election, although the state senate remained Democratic-Republican.
Gerry was nominated by the Democratic-Republican party and elected as vice president in the1812 election. Advanced in age and in poor health, Gerry served 21 months of his term before dying in office. Gerry is the only signatory of the Declaration of Independence to be buried inWashington, D.C.
Gerry was born on July 17, 1744, in theNorth Shore town ofMarblehead, Massachusetts. His father, Thomas Gerry (1702–1774), was a merchant who operated ships out of Marblehead, and his mother, Elizabeth (Greenleaf) Gerry (1716–1771), was the daughter of a successfulBoston merchant.[4] Gerry's first name came from John Elbridge, one of his mother's ancestors.[5] Gerry's parents had 11 children in all, although only five survived to adulthood. Of these, Elbridge was the third.[6] He was first educated by private tutors and enteredHarvard College shortly before turning 14. After receiving aBachelor of Arts degree in 1762 and aMaster of Arts in 1765, he entered his father's merchant business. By the 1770s, the Gerrys numbered among the wealthiest Massachusetts merchants, with trading connections inSpain, theWest Indies, and along the North American coast.[4][7] Gerry's father, who had emigrated from England in 1730, was active in local politics and had a leading role in the local militia.[8]
Gerry was from an early time a vocal opponent ofParliamentary efforts to tax the colonies after theFrench and Indian War ended in 1763. In 1770, he sat on a Marblehead committee that sought to enforce importation bans on taxed British goods. He frequently communicated with other Massachusetts opponents of British policy, includingSamuel Adams,John Adams,Mercy Otis Warren, and others.[4]
In May 1772, he won election to the Great and General Court of theProvince of Massachusetts Bay, which served as the state's legislative assembly. He worked closely with Samuel Adams to advance colonial opposition to Parliamentary colonial policies. He was responsible for establishing Marblehead'scommittee of correspondence, one of the first to be set up after that ofBoston.[9] However, an incident of mob action prompted him to resign from the committee the next year. Gerry and other prominent Marbleheaders hadestablished a hospital for performingsmallpox inoculations onCat Island; because the means of transmission of the disease were not known at the time, fears amongst the local population led to protests which escalated into violence that wrecked the hospital and threatened the proprietors' other properties.[10]
Gerry reentered politics after theBoston Port Act closed that city's port in 1774, and Marblehead became an alternative port to which relief supplies from other colonies could be delivered. As one of the town's leading merchants andPatriots, Gerry played a major role in ensuring the storage and delivery of supplies from Marblehead to Boston, interrupting those activities only to care for his dying father. He was elected as a representative to theFirst Continental Congress in September 1774, but declined, still grieving the loss of his father.[11]
Gerry was elected to the provincial assembly, which reconstituted itself as theMassachusetts Provincial Congress after GovernorThomas Gage dissolved the body in October 1774.[12] He was assigned to itscommittee of safety, responsible for ensuring that the province's limited supplies of weapons and gunpowder did not fall into British hands. His actions were partly responsible for the storage of weapons and ammunition inConcord; these stores were the target of the British expedition that sparked the start of theAmerican Revolutionary War with thebattles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775.[13] (Gerry was staying at an inn at Menotomy, nowArlington, when theBritish Army marched through on the night of April 18.)[14] During theSiege of Boston that followed, Gerry continued to take a leading role in supplying the nascentContinental Army, something he would continue to do as the war progressed.[15] He leveraged business contacts in France and Spain to acquire not just munitions, but supplies of all types, and was involved in the transfer of financial subsidies from Spain to Congress. He sent ships to ports all along the American coast and dabbled in financingprivateering operations against British merchant shipping.[16]
Unlike some other merchants, there is no evidence that Gerry profiteered directly from the hostilities. He spoke out againstprice gouging and in favor ofprice controls, although his war-related merchant activities notably increased the family's wealth.[17] His gains were tempered to some extent by the precipitous decline in the value ofpaper currencies, which he held in large quantities and speculated in.[18]
Gerry served in theSecond Continental Congress inPhiladelphia from February 1776 to 1780, when matters of the ongoing war occupied the body's attention. He was influential in convincing several delegates to support passage of the Declaration of Independence in the debates held during the summer of 1776; John Adams wrote of him, "If every Man here was a Gerry, the Liberties of America would be safe against the Gates of Earth and Hell."[19] He was implicated as a member of the so-called "Conway Cabal", a group of Congressmen and military officers who were dissatisfied with the performance of GeneralGeorge Washington during the1777 military campaign. However, Gerry took Pennsylvania leaderThomas Mifflin, one of Washington's critics, to task early in the episode and specifically denied knowledge of any sort of conspiracy against Washington in February 1778.[20]
Gerry's political philosophy was one oflimited central government, and he regularly advocated for the maintenance ofcivilian control of the military. He held these positions fairly consistently throughout his political career (wavering principally on the need for stronger central government in the wake of the 1786–87Shays' Rebellion) and was well known for his personal integrity.[21] In later years he opposed the idea of political parties, remaining somewhat distant from both the developing Federalist and Democratic-Republican parties until later in his career. It was not until 1800 that he formally associated with the Democratic-Republicans in opposition to what he saw as attempts by the Federalists to centralize too much power in the national government.[22]
In 1780, he resigned from the Continental Congress over the issue and refused offers from the state legislature to return to the Congress.[23] He also refused appointment to the state senate, claiming he would be more effective in the state's lower chamber, and also refused appointment as a county judge, comparing the offer by GovernorJohn Hancock to those made by royally-appointed governors to benefit their political allies.[24] He was elected a fellow of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1781.[25]
Gerry was convinced to rejoin the Confederation Congress in 1783, when the state legislature agreed to support his call for needed reforms.[26] He served in that body, which met inNew York City, until September 1785. The following year, he married Ann Thompson, the daughter of a wealthy New York City merchant who was 20 years his junior; his best man was his good friendJames Monroe.[19][27] The couple had ten children between 1787 and 1801, straining Ann's health.[19]
The war made Gerry sufficiently wealthy that when it ended he sold off his merchant interests and began investing in land. In 1787, he purchased theCambridge, Massachusetts, estate of the last royal lieutenant governor of Massachusetts,Thomas Oliver, which had been confiscated by the state. This 100-acre (40 ha) property, known asElmwood, became the family home for the rest of Gerry's life.[28] He continued to own property in Marblehead and bought several properties in other Massachusetts communities. He also owned shares in theOhio Company, prompting some political opponents to characterize him as an owner of vast tracts of western lands.[29]
Gerry played a major role in the Constitutional Convention held inPhiladelphia during the summer of 1787.[30] In its deliberations, he consistently advocated for a strong delineation between state and federal government powers, with state legislatures shaping the membership of federal government positions. Gerry's opposition to popular election of representatives was rooted in part by the events of Shays' Rebellion in western Massachusetts in the year preceding the convention. He also sought to maintain individual liberties by providing checks on government power that might abuse or limit those freedoms.[31]
He supported the idea that theSenate composition should not be determined by population; the view that it should instead be composed of equal numbers of members for each state prevailed in theConnecticut Compromise. The compromise was adopted on a narrow vote in which the Massachusetts delegation was divided, Gerry andCaleb Strong voting in favor.[32] Gerry further proposed that senators of a state, rather than casting a single vote on behalf of the state, vote instead as individuals.[33] Gerry was also vocal in opposing theThree-fifths Compromise, which countedslaves as three-fifths of a person for the purposes of determining the number of each states' votes in theHouse of Representatives and theElectoral College. The Southern states wanted each slave to count as a full person, whereas the Northern states did not want them to count at all. Gerry asked, why should "blacks, who were property in the South", count toward representation "any more than the Cattle & horses of the North"?[34][35] Gerry opposed slavery and said the constitution should have "nothing to do" with slavery so as "not to sanction it."[36]
Gerry's preference for a more highly centralized government throughout most of the Convention was not motivated by a desire for great social changes, but was intended rather to restrain such popular excesses as were evidenced in Shays's Rebellion.... [H]e defended popular rights when the people appeared to be threatened by some powerful interest groups, and he called for restraints on popular influence when the people seemed to be gaining the upper hand too much.
Because of his fear ofdemagoguery and belief the people of the United States could be easily misled, Gerry also advocatedindirect elections. Although he was unsuccessful in obtaining them for the lower house of Congress, Gerry did obtain such indirect elections for the Senate, whose members were to be selected by the state legislatures. Gerry also advanced numerous proposals for indirect elections of the President of the United States, most of them involving limiting the right to vote to the state governors andelectors.[38]
Gerry was unhappy about the lack of enumeration of any specific individual liberties in the proposed constitution and generally opposed proposals that strengthened the central government. He was one of only three delegates who voted against the proposed constitution in the convention (the others wereGeorge Mason andEdmund Randolph), citing a concern about the convention's lack of authority to enact such major changes to the nation's system of government and to the constitution's lack of "federal features."[39] Ultimately, Gerry refused to sign because of concerns over the rights of private citizens and the power of the legislature to raise armies and revenue.[40]
During the ratification debates that took place in the states following the convention, Gerry continued his opposition, publishing a widely circulated letter documenting his objections to the proposed constitution.[41] In the document, he cites the lack of a Bill of Rights as his primary objection but also expresses qualified approval of the Constitution, indicating that he would accept it with some amendment.[42] Strong pro-Constitution forces attacked him in the press, comparing him unfavorably to the Shaysites.Henry Jackson was particularly vicious: "[Gerry has] done more injury to this country by that infamous Letter than he will be able to make atonement in his whole life",[41] andOliver Ellsworth, a convention delegate from Connecticut, charged him with deliberately courting the Shays faction.[43]
One consequence of the furor over his letter was that he was not selected as a delegate to the Massachusetts ratifying convention[44] although he was later invited to attend by the convention's leadership. The convention leadership was dominated by Federalists, and Gerry was not given any formal opportunity to speak. He left the convention after a shouting match with convention chairFrancis Dana.[45] Massachusetts ratified the constitution by a vote of 187 to 168.[46] The debate had the result of estranging Gerry from several previously-friendly politicians, including chairman Dana andRufus King.[47]
Anti-Federalist forces nominated Gerry for governor in 1788, but he was predictably defeated by the popular incumbentJohn Hancock.[48] Following its ratification, Gerry recanted his opposition to the Constitution, noting that other state ratifying conventions had called for amendments that he supported.[49] He was nominated by friends (over his own opposition to the idea) for a seat in the inaugural House of Representatives, where he served two terms.[50]
In June 1789, Gerry proposed that Congress consider all of the proposed constitutional amendments that various state ratifying conventions had called for (notably those ofRhode Island andNorth Carolina, which had at the time still not ratified the Constitution).[51] In the debate that followed, he led opposition to some of the proposals, arguing that they did not go far enough in ensuring individual liberties. He successfully lobbied for inclusion offreedom of assembly in theFirst Amendment and was a leading architect of theFourth Amendment protections againstsearch and seizure.[52] He sought unsuccessfully to insert the word "expressly" into theTenth Amendment, which might have more significantly limited the federal government's power.[53]
He was successful in efforts to severely limit the federal government's ability to controlstate militias.[54] In tandem with this protection, he had once argued against the idea of the federal government controlling a largestanding army, saying, "A standing army is like a standing member. It's an excellent assurance of domestic tranquility, but a dangerous temptation to foreign adventure."[55]
Gerry vigorously supportedAlexander Hamilton's reports on public credit, including the assumption at full value of state debts, and supported Hamilton'sBank of the United States, positions consistent with earlier calls he had made for economic centralization.[56] Although he had speculated in depreciated Continental bills of credit (theIOUs at issue), there is no evidence he participated in large-scale speculation that attended the debate when it took place in 1790, and he became a major investor in the new bank.[57] He used the floor of the House to speak out against aristocratic and monarchical tendencies he saw as threats torepublican ideals, and generally opposed laws and their provisions that he perceived as limiting individual and state liberties. He opposed any attempt to give officers of the executive significant powers, specifically opposing establishment of theTreasury Department because its head might gain more power than the president.[58] He opposed measures that strengthened the presidency, such as the ability to fireCabinet officers, seeking instead to give the legislature more power over appointments.[59]
Gerry did not stand for re-election in 1792, returning home to raise his children and care for his sickly wife.[60] He agreed to serve as apresidential elector for John Adams in the1796 election.[61]
During Adams' term in office, Gerry maintained good relations with both Adams and Vice PresidentThomas Jefferson, hoping that the divided executive might lead to less friction. His hopes were not realized: the split between Federalists (Adams) and Democratic-Republicans (Jefferson) widened.[62]
President Adams appointed Gerry to be a member of a special diplomatic commission sent toRepublican France in 1797.[63] Tensions had risen between the two nations after the 1796 ratification of theJay Treaty, made between the United States and Great Britain. It was seen by French leaders as signs of an Anglo-American alliance, and France had consequently stepped up seizures of American ships.[64] Adams chose Gerry over his cabinet's opposition (on political grounds that Gerry was insufficiently Federalist), because of their long-standing relationship; Adams described Gerry as one of the "two most impartial men in America" (Adams himself being the other).[63]
Gerry joined co-commissionersCharles Cotesworth Pinckney andJohn Marshall in France in October 1797 and met briefly with Foreign MinisterTalleyrand.[65] Some days after that meeting, the delegation was approached by three French agents (at first identified as "X", "Y", and "Z" in published papers, leading the controversy to be called the "XYZ Affair") who demanded substantial bribes from the commissioners before negotiations could continue.[66] The commissioners refused and sought unsuccessfully to engage Talleyrand in formal negotiations.[67] Believing Gerry to be the most approachable of the commissioners, Talleyrand successively froze first Pinckney and then Marshall out of the informal negotiations, and they left France in April 1798.[68] Gerry, who sought to leave with them, stayed behind because Talleyrand threatened war if he left.[69] Gerry refused to make any significant negotiations afterward and left Paris in August.[70]
By then, dispatches describing the commission's reception had been published in the United States, raising calls for war.[71] The undeclared navalQuasi-War (1798–1800) followed.[72] Federalists, notably Secretary of StateTimothy Pickering, accused Gerry of supporting the French and abetting the breakdown of the talks, while Adams and Republicans such as Thomas Jefferson supported him.[73] The negative press damaged Gerry's reputation, and he wasburned in effigy by protestors in front of his home. He was only later vindicated, when his correspondence with Talleyrand was published in 1799.[62] In response to the Federalist attacks on him, and because of his perception that the Federalist-led military buildup threatened republican values, Gerry formally joined the Democratic-Republican Party in early 1800, standing for election asGovernor of Massachusetts.[74]
The word "gerrymander", originally written as "Gerry-mander", was used for the first time in theBoston Gazette on March 26, 1812.[75] Appearing with the term, and helping spread and sustain its popularity, was this political cartoon, which depicts a state senate district inEssex County, Massachusetts as a strange animal with claws, wings, and a dragon-type head, satirizing the district's odd shape.
For years (in the1800,1801,1802, and1803 elections) Gerry unsuccessfully sought the governorship of Massachusetts.[76] His opponent in these races,Caleb Strong, was a popular moderate Federalist, whose party dominated the state's politics despite a national shift toward the Republicans.[77] In 1803, Republicans in the state were divided, and Gerry only had regional support of the party. He decided not to run in the1804 election, returning to semi-retirement[78] and to deal with a personal financial crisis. His brother Samuel Russell had mismanaged his own business affairs, and Gerry had propped him up byguaranteeing a loan that was due. The matter ultimately ruined Gerry's finances for his remaining years.[79]
RepublicanJames Sullivan won the governor's seat from Strong in the1807 election, but his successor was unable to hold the seat in the1809 election, which went to FederalistChristopher Gore.[80] Gerry stood for election again in the1810 election against Gore and won a narrow victory. Republicans cast Gore as an ostentatious British-lovingTory who wanted to restore the monarchy (his parents wereLoyalists during the Revolution), and Gerry as a patriotic American, while Federalists described Gerry as a "French partizan" and Gore as an honest man devoted to ridding the government of foreign influence.[81] A temporary lessening in the threat of war with Britain aided Gerry.[82] The twobattled again in 1811, with Gerry once again victorious in a highly acrimonious campaign.[83][84]
Gerry's first year as governor was less controversial than his second, because the Federalists controlled the state senate. He preached moderation in the political discourse, noting that it was important that the nation present a unified front in its dealings with foreign powers.[85] In his second term, with full Republican control of the legislature, he became notably more partisan, purging much of the state government of Federalist appointees. The legislature also enacted "reforms" of the court system that resulted in an increase in the number of judicial appointments, which Gerry filled with Republican partisans. However, infighting within the party and a shortage of qualified candidates played against Gerry, and the Federalists scored points by complaining vocally about the partisan nature of the reforms.[86]
Other legislation passed during Gerry's second year included a bill broadening the membership ofHarvard's Board of Overseers to diversify its religious membership, and another that liberalized religious taxes. The Harvard bill had significant political slant because the recent split between orthodoxCongregationalists andUnitarians also divided the state to some extent along party lines, and Federalist Unitarians had recently gained control over the Harvard board.[87]
In 1812, the state adopted new constitutionally mandated electoral district boundaries. The Republican-controlled legislature had created district boundaries designed to enhance their party's control over state and national offices, leading to some oddly shaped legislative districts.[88] Although Gerry was unhappy about the highly partisan districting (according to his son-in-law, he thought it "highly disagreeable"), he signed the legislation. The shape of one of the state senate districts inEssex County was compared to asalamander[89] by a local Federalist newspaper in a political cartoon, calling it a "Gerry-mander".[90] Ever since, the creation of such districts has been calledgerrymandering.[a][88]
Gerry also engaged in partisan investigations of potential libel against him by elements of the Federalist press, further damaging his popularity with moderates. The redistricting controversy, along with the libel investigation and the impendingWar of 1812, contributed to Gerry's defeat in 1812 (once again at the hands of Caleb Strong, whom the Federalists had brought out of retirement).[93][94] The gerrymandering of the state Senate was a notable success in the 1812 election: the body was thoroughly dominated by Republicans, even though the house and the governor's seatwent to Federalists by substantial margins.[75]
Gerry's financial difficulties prompted him to ask President James Madison for a federal position after his loss in the 1812 election held earlier in the year.[94] He was chosen by the partyCongressional nominating caucus to be Madison's vice presidential running mate in the1812 presidential election, although the nomination was first offered toJohn Langdon. He was viewed as a relatively safe choice who would attract Northern votes but not pose a threat to James Monroe, who was thought likely to succeed Madison. Madison narrowly won re-election.[95]
Gerry took the oath of office at Elmwood in March 1813.[96] During this time the office of vice president was largely asinecure. Gerry's duties included advancing the administration's agenda in Congress and dispensingpatronage positions in New England.[97] Gerry's actions in support of the War of 1812 had a partisan edge: he expressed concerns over a possible Federalist seizure of Fort Adams (as Boston'sFort Independence was then known) as a prelude to Anglo-Federalist cooperation and sought the arrest of printers of Federalist newspapers.[98]
Gerry became the second vice president in a row to die in office, afterGeorge Clinton.
He is buried in theCongressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C.,[101] with a memorial byJohn Frazee.[102] He is the only signer of the Declaration of Independence who was buried in the nation's capital city.[103] The estate he left his wife and children was rich in land and poor in cash, but he had managed to repay his brother's debts with his pay as vice president.[100] Aged 68 at the start of his vice presidency, he was the oldest person to become vice president untilCharles Curtis in 1929.
Gerry is generally remembered for the use of his name in the wordgerrymander, for his refusal to sign the United States Constitution, and for his role in theXYZ Affair and for his time asVice President. His path through the politics of the age has been difficult to characterize. Early biographers, including his son-in-lawJames T. Austin andSamuel Eliot Morison, struggled to explain his apparent changes in position. BiographerGeorge Athan Billias posits that Gerry was a consistent advocate and practitioner of republicanism as it was originally envisioned,[104] and that his role in the Constitutional Convention had a significant impact on the document it eventually produced.[105]
Gerry had ten children, nine of whom survived into adulthood:
James Thompson Gerry (1797–1854), who leftWest Point upon his father's death and was commander of the war-sloopUSSAlbany; the sloop disappeared with all hands September 28 or 29, 1854 near the West Indies.[108]
Gerry's grandsonElbridge Thomas Gerry became a distinguished lawyer and philanthropist in New York. His great-grandson,Peter G. Gerry, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and later a U.S. Senator from Rhode Island.[111]
The upstate New York town ofElbridge is believed to have been named in his honor, as is the western New York town ofGerry.[114][115] The town ofPhillipston, Massachusetts was originally incorporated in 1786 under the name Gerry in his honor but was changed to its present name after the town submitted a petition in 1812, citing Democratic-Republican support for the War of 1812.[116]
Gerry's Landing Road inCambridge, Massachusetts, is located near theEliot Bridge not far from Elmwood. During the 19th century, the area was known as Gerry's Landing (formerly known as Sir Richard's Landing) and was used by a Gerry relative for a short time as a landing and storehouse.[117][118] The supposed house of his birth, theElbridge Gerry House (it is uncertain whether he was born in the house currently standing on the site or an earlier structure) stands in Marblehead, and Marblehead's Elbridge Gerry School is named in his honor.[119][120]
^"Gerrymandering" is a process by which electoral districts are drawn with the aim of aiding the party in power, although the pronunciation of the initial "g" has softened to/dʒ/ rather than the hard/ɡ/ of his name.[91][92]
^Thomas III, William G.,A Question of Freedom: The Families Who Challenged Slavery from the Nation’s Founding to the Civil War. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. 2020, p. 35.
^See U.S. Military and Naval Academies, Cadet Records and Applications, 1805–1908, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, DC; U.S. Military Academy Cadet Application Papers, 1805–1866; Microfilm Serial: M688; Microfilm Roll: 3, File #1–108 and Unnumbered; 1814:James T. Gerry, 1814. Retrieved November 4, 2015.(subscription required). See also Charles R. Hale Collection. Hale Collection of Connecticut Cemetery Inscriptions. Hartford, Connecticut: Connecticut State Library. Connecticut Headstone Inscriptions Vol 32,Transcription hereArchived March 5, 2016, at theWayback Machine. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
Stinchcombe, William (October 1977). "The Diplomacy of the WXYZ Affair".William and Mary Quarterly.34 (34:590–617):590–617.doi:10.2307/2936184.JSTOR2936184.
Trees, Andy (2000). "Private Correspondence for the Public Good: Thomas Jefferson to Elbridge Gerry, 26 January 1799".The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography.108 (3). Virginia Historical Society:217–254.ISSN0042-6636.JSTOR4249849. Shows that Gerry ignored Jefferson's 1799 letter inviting him to switch parties.
Billias, George (1976).Elbridge Gerry: Founding Father and Republican Statesman. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.
Kramer, Eugene F (1956). "Some New Light on the XYZ Affair: Elbridge Gerry's Reasons for Opposing War with France".New England Quarterly.29 (4):509–13.doi:10.2307/362143.ISSN0028-4866.JSTOR362143.
![General George Washington Resigning His Commission, a portrait by John Trumbull depicting Gerry standing on the left[113]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aGeneral_George_Washington_Resigning_his_Commission.jpg)
