Road to Liberty: Elbridge Gerry

Elbridge Gerry was a merchant, politician, and diplomat who served as the fifth vice president of the United States.

Born on July 17, 1744, in Marblehead, Massachusetts, Gerry came from a family of successful merchants. He graduated from Harvard College and worked closely with Samuel Adams. After a brief time in commerce, he entered public service as a member of the Massachusetts Legislature and General Court.

In 1775, Gerry was elected to the Second Continental Congress, where he signed the Declaration of Independence, and continued to serve until 1780.

In response to Shays’ Rebellion, Gerry was selected to attend the Constitutional Convention in 1787. He chaired the committee that helped forge the Great Compromise, which created a bicameral legislature with popular representation in the U.S. House of Representatives and equal representation for each state in the Senate.

Concerned about centralized power, Gerry—along with Edmund Randolph and George Mason—refused to sign the Constitution without a Bill of Rights. After ratification, he served two terms in Congress, retiring in 1793.

In 1797, Gerry participated in a diplomatic mission to France that resulted in the “XYZ Affair,” a scandal in which French agents demanded bribes from American envoys as a condition for negotiations—sparking public outrage in the United States. He later served as Governor of Massachusetts beginning in 1810, where the state legislature’s redistricting decisions led to the term “gerrymandering.” In 1813, he became vice president under James Madison, serving until his death in 1814 at age 70.