Elbridge Gerry, James Madison’s second Vice President, is not nearly as well known as his eponym “Gerrymandering” which means to divide election districts in a way that gives an advantage to one party over the other.

He was born in Marblehead Massachusetts in 1744, the son wealthy and politically active sea merchant. His family had a good business exporting dried codfish to Spain and Barbados. He graduated from Harvard University and originally planned for a career in medicine, but instead joined his father’s mercantile business.

Having made a suitable fortune he began his political career as Marblehead’s representative to the general court of province in the colonial government. In 1772 he joined the Committee of correspondence and began listening to the revolutionary ideas of Samuel Adams.

When the port of Boston was closed Gerry helped the patriots smuggle goods in to the city by way of Marblehead. He was appointed to the council of safety at the second Continental Congress, and as chairman of the Committee of Supply he helped raise troops and organized military logistics. He was almost captured when the British marched on Concord and Lexington.

In 1776 he was a strong advocate for higher pay for the soldiers fighting the revolution, but later would face disapproval by some of those same soldiers when he refused to support pensions. He quit Congress 1779 because of disputes over Congressional finances. In 1786 he was elected to the Massachusetts state legislature.

Gerry was a delegate to the constitutional convention. At first he opposed it because there was no Bill of Rights, and he feared that the judicial branch would have too much power. He would later change his mind when he concluded that the amendment process could alter any problems in the original draft.

He was elected the first Congress of the United States under the new constitution. Gerry had been an anti-federalist but was elected for championing federalist policies.

In 1797 Gerry was sent to Paris in what would become the infamous XYZ affair. French diplomat Talleyrand convinced Gerry that it was necessary for him to remain in Paris when Charles C. Pinckney and John Marshall had left to return to America. Gerry thought that his staying was helping to bring about a peace agreement, but it was only a ruse by the French to promote their own agenda. An embarrassed President Adams recalled Gerry back home. When he returned he faced harsh censorship by the Federalist in Congress.

In 1800 he ran for Governor of Massachusetts. He lost four consecutive elections, and then in 1810 he finally won. The one thing he will always be remembered for was a redistricting bill he signed in to law that gave his own Republican Party an unfair advantage over their Federalist opponents. One district had such an odd shape that one Federalist said it looked like a salamander. Another Federalist responded, “Why not call it a Gerrymander” and so was born the political eponym, which will keep Elbridge Gerry in our history books long after we have forgotten who he was or what he did.

Even though he was in poor health, and facing personal poverty due to personal financial neglect he was nominated to run with James Madison in 1812. In 1814 Vice President Elbridge Gerry, now 70 years old, died in office. His wife became the last surviving widow of a signer of the Declaration of Independence.