“The evils we experience flow from the excess of democracy.
The people do not want virtue, but are the dupes of pretended patriots.”
Elbridge Gerry
Elbridge Gerry got a word. Which is more than most of the signers. While serving as governor of Massachusetts he redrew the assembly district lines in a way that favored his party and made one of the districts resemble a salamander. And so the term Gerrymander was born.
Along the path of the revolution Gerry signed the Declaration, the Articles of Confederation and refused to sign the Constitution because it didn’t have a Bill of Rights. He then served in the first Congress and helped to write the Bill of Rights. He is remembered as the founder who gave us the term “Gerrymander.”
By the way he also served as Vice President under James Madison and he is the only signer of the Declaration of Independence who is buried in Washington DC. Have you ever visited his grave site?
This is the cartoon map that gave Gerry his word and therefore his place in history. The quote could have been written about the voting public today.
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