Elbridge Gerry and the Creation of Gerrymandering

Gerrymandering is the practice of drawing district maps with the intent of creating an advantage for a political party. The term gerrymandering comes from the name of Founder Elbridge Gerry. 

Gerry was a staunch Democratic-Republican who had been a Framer of the Constitution and outspoken supporter of a Bill of Rights. In 1810, he was elected governor of Massachusetts, where he called for an end to partisan fighting. However, he believed that the Federalists wanted to turn America into a monarchy, and so he also began to replace Federalists in government jobs with Democratic-Republicans and to attack Federalist newspapers. In the meantime, the Democratic-Republicans in the state legislature had redrawn districts to benefit their party; Gerry signed the redistricting bill into law.

Infuriated, the Federalists began scathing attacks on Gerry. At a Federalist dinner party, talk turned to the redistricted map. Illustrator Elkanah Tisdale drew the map as if it were a monster, and another party guest commented that it looked like a salamander. As the conversation continued, one Federalist commented that it was, in fact, a “gerry-mander”—and the name stuck. The illustration was published in the Boston Gazette soon after, claiming that the “gerry-mandered” beast had been born out of extreme partisanship. “[M]any fiery ebullitions of party spirit, many explosions of democratic wrath and fulminations of gubernatorial vengeance within the year past,” the paper wrote. 

Since then, the battle over redistricting and creating maps that benefit one political party over the other has been commonplace in politically divided areas.