Elbridge Thomas Gerry (July 17, 1744 – November 23, 1814) was an American politician, a member of the Jeffersonian Republican Party. He was the fifth Vice President of the United States, serving under James Madison, from March 4, 1813 until his death. He was the second Vice President to die in office; the first to have died in office was Gerry's immediate predecessor, George Clinton, who served under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

Gerry was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. He was one of the three men who refused to sign the Constitution because it did not have a Bill of Rights. Another one of the delegates who refused to sign is George Mason. Elbridge Gerry later became governor of Massachusetts. He is most famous for being the namesake of gerrymandering — a process by which electoral districts are drawn with the aim of aiding the party in power.

Early life

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Born in Marblehead, Massachusetts, the third of twelve children, he was a graduate of Harvard College, where he studied to be a merchant, attending there from age fourteen. He worked in his father's shipping business and came to prominence over his opposition to commerce taxes. He was elected to the General Court of the province of Massachusetts in May 1772 on an anti-British platform.

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