Etymology of the Verb “to gerrymander”

On By Norbert HauptIn History

There are a lot of headlines about gerrymandering by the Republicans these days. I was curious about where the word came from.

In Massachusetts in the year 1812, the governor was Gerry Elbridge. His party redistricted the state to preserve the Antifederalist majority. After they were done, one district in Essex County resembled a salamander.

Here is a picture of an article in the Boston Gazette of March 26, 1812. You can click to enlarge.

“The Gerrymander: a New Species of Monster” Boston Gazette, March 26, 1812, page 2, Library of Congress Newspaper, Serials and Government Publications Division.

And that’s how Gerry and (sala)mander created the word gerrymander that we still use today.

Do you have anything that can trump that?

 

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