COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS., WHEREAS, IN PROVIDING FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF ELECTORS OF PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES ON THE PART OF THIS COMMONWEALTH, REGARD SHOULD BE HAD AS FAR AS MAY BE, TO THE LOCAL CIRCUMSTANCES AND USAGES OF THE CITIZENS, AND TO THE RESIDENCE OF THOSE WHO MAY BE PROPOSED AS CANDIDATES FOR ELECTORS - THEREFORE, RESOLVED, THAT THE COMMONWEALTH BE DIVIDED INTO TWENTY-TWO DISTRICTS FOR THE CHOICE OF ELECTORS OF PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES IN MANNER FOLLOWING, TO WIT: . .

[Massachusetts] Gerry, Elbridge

Published by [Boston, 1812

About this Item

8pp. Caption title as issued. Untrimmed, uncut folio sheet. Old horizontal fold, light toning. Very Good. This Bill was proposed during the May 1812 session of the Massachusetts Legislature. It failed to pass. A few months earlier, on 12 February 1812, under Democratic Governor Elbridge Gerry, the Legislature enacted a law dividing the Commonwealth into eighteen districts for the purpose of choosing electors of Counsellors and Senators. Although he allegedly found the proposal "highly disagreeable," Gerry signed it. Gov. Gerry lost his 1812 bid for re-election, but his Party retained its control of the legislature. The creator of the "Gerry-mander" term [later "gerrymander"] is not definitively established. It may have first appeared in print on March 26, 1812 in the Boston Gazette, after publication of Elkanah Tisdale's cartoon, which showed the proposed districts in the shape of a salamander. Hence the genesis of "Gerry-mander". Our May bill, which had been proposed the month before Gov. Gerry's term ended, was the first attempt to gerrymander districts for the elections of President and Vice-President after the new term was coined. Although the May bill didn't pass, a bill proposed by the new Governor, Caleb Strong, was passed on October 22, 1812, for the electors of President and Vice-President which divided the Commonwealth into six districts. ["Gerrymandering: The Origin Story", July 18, 2024, posted by Neely Tucker, with mention of guest post by Mark Dimunation, former chief of Rare Book and Special Collections, Library of Congress, LOC Blogs; "The Election," The Pittsfield Sun, Saturday, April 11, 1812, page 3; "To the Printer of the Pittsfield Sun", The Pittsfield Sun, Thursday, April 1, 1813, page 2.] AI 25982 [1- Br.Mus], 26019 [1-RPB. OCLC records only facsimiles as of October 2025. AAS does not own it.

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS., WHEREAS, IN PROVIDING FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF ELECTORS OF PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES ON THE PART OF THIS COMMONWEALTH, REGARD SHOULD BE HAD AS FAR AS MAY BE, TO THE LOCAL CIRCUMSTANCES AND USAGES OF THE CITIZENS, AND TO THE RESIDENCE OF THOSE WHO MAY BE PROPOSED AS CANDIDATES FOR ELECTORS - THEREFORE, RESOLVED, THAT THE COMMONWEALTH BE DIVIDED INTO TWENTY-TWO DISTRICTS FOR THE CHOICE OF ELECTORS OF PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED ...
• Publisher: [Boston
• Publication Date: 1812
• Seller catalogs:
  • POLITICAL
  • LAW
  • MASSACHUSETTS
  • AMERICANA
  • PRESIDENCY