Elbridge Gerry

Elbridge Gerry
5th Vice President of the United States
In office March 4, 1813 – November 23, 1814
President	James Madison
Preceded by	George Clinton
Succeeded by	Daniel D. Tompkins
9th Governor of Massachusetts
In office June 10, 1810 – June 5, 1812
Lieutenant	William Gray
Preceded by	Christopher Gore
Succeeded by	Caleb Strong
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 3rd district
In office March 4, 1789 – March 3, 1793
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Shearjashub Bourne Peleg Coffin Jr.
Member of the Congress of the Confederation from Massachusetts
In office June 30, 1783 – September 1785
Member of the Continental Congress from Massachusetts
In office February 9, 1776 – February 19, 1780
Personal details
Born	(1744-07-17)July 17, 1744 Marblehead, Province of Massachusetts Bay, British America
Died	November 23, 1814(1814-11-23) (aged 70) Washington, District of Columbia, U.S.
Resting place	Congressional Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)
Political party	Democratic-Republican
Spouse	Ann Thompson ​ (m. 1786)​
Children	10, including Thomas Russell Gerry
Education	Harvard University (BA, MA)
Signature

Elbridge Gerry (/ˈɡɛri/; July 17, 1744 – November 23, 1814) was an American Founding Father, merchant, politician, and diplomat who served as the fifth vice president of the United States under President James Madison from 1813 until his death in 1814.^[1] The political practice of gerrymandering is named after him.^[2]

Born into a wealthy merchant family, Gerry vocally opposed British colonial policy in the 1760s and was active in the early stages of organizing the resistance in the American Revolutionary War. Elected to the Second Continental Congress, Gerry signed both the Declaration of Independence and Articles of Confederation.^[3] He was one of three men who attended the Constitutional Convention in 1787, but refused to sign the Constitution because originally it did not include a Bill of Rights. After its ratification, he was elected to the inaugural United States Congress, where he was actively involved in the drafting and passage of the Bill of Rights as an advocate of individual and state liberties.

Gerry was at first opposed to the idea of political parties and cultivated enduring friendships on both sides of the political divide between Federalists and Democratic-Republicans. He was a member of a diplomatic delegation to France that was treated poorly in the XYZ Affair, in which Federalists held him responsible for a breakdown in negotiations. Gerry thereafter became a Democratic-Republican, running unsuccessfully for Governor 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 the 1812 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 in Washington, D.C.