Gerry

Gerry, Elbridge (1744-1814), an American politician, chiefly noted as having given rise to the term "gerrymandering" by rearranging the boundaries of electoral districts in the interests oi his own party. It is said that an opponent remarked that one of the new districts was shaped like a salamander. "I call it a gerrymander," said another. Gerry was born in Massachusetts, and graduated at Harvard. In 1773 he was returned to the Massachusetts Assembly, and in 1789 to the first National Congress. In 1797 he was sent to France to negotiate a treaty, and in 1810 became governor of Massachusetts. He was Vice-President of the United States when he died.