Elbridge Gerry’s Goings-on
Elbridge Gerry was a forceful member of the Founding generation whose name and contribution to the cause of liberty have been nearly forgotten by his 21st-century countrymen. In truth, the name of Gerry likely would be completely unknown were it not for its attachment to the apportionment scheme known as “gerrymandering.”
Given that Gerry was among the most active participants at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 (he delivered at least 119 speeches on a variety of subjects), and given his leadership role in the unsuccessful anti-Federalist attempt to prevent ratification of the document drafted during that historic summer in Philadelphia, his near anonymity is something of a head-scratcher.
Gerry was born on July 17, 1744 in Marblehead, Massachusetts, the third of 12 children of Thomas Gerry, a wealthy and influential codfish merchant. Thomas was, M.E. Bradford writes, a “sober Puritan,” but he and all his children threw themselves zealously into the organized resistance to English economic regulations being imposed on trade in Massachusetts and elsewhere.
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