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Posted on 06/04/2026 8:10:58 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
The term for the political tactic of manipulating boundaries of electoral districts for unfair political advantage derives its name from a prominent 19th-century political figure -- and from a mythological salamander.
The term, originally written as "Gerry-mander," first was used on March 26, 1812, in the Boston Gazette -- a reaction to the redrawing of Massachusetts state senate election districts under Gov. Elbridge Gerry.
Though the redistricting was done at the behest of his Democratic-Republican Party, it was Gerry who signed the bill in 1812. As a result, he received the dubious honor of attribution, along with its negative connotations.
Gerry, in fact, found the proposal "highly disagreeable." He lost the next election, but the redistricting was a success: His party retained control of the legislature.
One of the remapped, contorted districts in the Boston area was said to resemble the shape of a mythological salamander. The newly drawn state senate district in Essex County was lampooned in cartoons as a strange winged dragon, clutching at the region.
The person who coined the term gerrymander never has been identified. The artist who drew the political cartoon, however, was Elkanah Tisdale, a Boston-based artist and engraver who had the skills to cut the blocks for the original cartoon.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.loc.gov ...
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The political cartoon that gave birth to the term "Gerrymandering."Artist: Elkanah Tisdale. Rare Book and Special Collections Division
Gerrymandering: The Origin Story | Mark Dimunation | Posted by: Neely Tucker | July 18, 2024
Democrats gonna Democrat...
Gerrys gonna Gerrymander, too.
[snip] The Democratic-Republican Party (also known as the Jeffersonian Republicans) was the first major opposition political party in the United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in 1792. It is the direct historical antecedent of the modern Democratic Party, distinguishing it from the modern Republican Party, which was founded in 1854. [/snip]
https://search.brave.com/search?q=democratic+republicans&summary=1
Those districts from 1812 that caused the outrage at the time are child’s play compared to the redistricting shenanigans of today’s modern Democrats. As an example take a look at the current Congressional districts in Illinois:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois%27s_congressional_districts
Bit of trivia: Gov. Elbridge Gerry pronounced his surname “gary,” but the term “gerrymander” is almost always pronounced “jerry.”
Thanks!
I came to post this myself. The fact that we are mispronouncing the term indicates that those using it lack the understanding of its origin. This is especially the case when whack job lefties try to make it sound like we were the ones who started doing it just in the last few election cycles. If you listen to them, you’d think gerrymandering started around the time of the Obama Admin when Dems lost control of the House.
Maybe if we pronounced it correctly, people would realize that gerrymandering has been around pretty much for the entire history of our republic.
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