What Is The Difference Between “It’s” And “Its”? Long and thin, the redrawn state senate district in Massachusetts  stretched from near Boston to the New Hampshire border, where it hooked east along the Merrimack River to the coast. The Court’s ruling, however, did not consider whether the efficiency gap amounted to the “judicially discernible and manageable” standard it had been waiting for. The origin of the term gerrymander dates back to the early 1800s in Massachusetts. Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. …an unconstitutional political, or partisan, gerrymander. Get the best of Smithsonian magazine by email. Gerry, governor of Massachusetts, was lampooned when his party redistricted the state in a blatant bid to preserve an Antifederalist majority. Like many Democratic-Republicans, Gerry came to believe that the Federalist opposition were too close to the British and secretly wanted to restore the monarchy. According to Adams, he had an “obstinacy that will risk great things to secure small ones.”. (The Court has previously heard gerrymandering cases where race was a factor.) He serves currently as the editor of Earth and life sciences—covering climatology, geology, zoology, and other topics that relate to the... Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. He joined Britannica in 1989. an act of gerrymandering (dividing a voting area so as to give your own party an unfair advantage). The constitutional significance of the latter principle was set forth in a U.S. Supreme Court ruling issued in 1962, Baker v. Carr, in which the Court held that the failure of the legislature of Tennessee to reapportion state legislative districts to take into account significant changes in district populations had effectively reduced the weight of votes cast in more populous districts, amounting to a violation of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Gerry joined Madison’s successful presidential ticket later in 1812. It sliced up Essex County, a political stronghold for the Federalist Party – all by design of its ascendant political rival, the Democratic-Republicans. If these constructions fell apart when they were held up for view, one could argue that the district’s gerrymandering was too extreme. Several solutions have been devised to reduce the influence of gerrymandering. It worked: the freakishly shaped district elected three Democratic-Republicans that year, 1812, breaking up the county’s previous delegation of five Federalist senators. That governor’s name was Elbridge Gerry. What Is the Dot over the Letter "i" Called? In that case, the plaintiffs argued that the discriminatory effects of the redistricting plan could be measured objectively by comparing the “efficiency” of votes cast for Republican or Democratic candidates in state legislative elections since 2012. But it couldn’t help Gerry, who lost the statewide popular vote for governor to Federalist challenger Caleb Strong. Gerrymandering has become common in American politics and is often blamed for the gridlock in Congress, polarization of the electorate and disenfranchisement among voters . An “Old Republican,” Gerry feared any concentration of power and thought a republic had to balance centralized authority, the aristocracy, and the common people.

Gerrymandering, in U.S. politics, the practice of drawing the boundaries of electoral districts in a way that gives one political party an unfair advantage over its rivals (political or partisan gerrymandering) or that dilutes the voting power of members of ethnic or linguistic minority groups (racial gerrymandering). The number of representatives for each district can change after a census due to population shifts, but their boundar… He also handles law, social science, political theory, and some areas of religion. "Gerrymandering" comes from a nineteenth-century governor, a dastardly political scheme, and one talented illustrator. The outline of one of these districts was thought to resemble a salamander. Well-known in his day, Gerry was a wild-eyed eccentric and an awkward speaker, a trusted confidant of John Adams and a deep (if peculiar) thinker. And you’ll notice that the term was originally pronounced “gary-mander” to reflect the pronunciation of Governor Gerry’s name, but given that the first radio stations didn’t start broadcasting until the early 1900s, there was no mass media to tell people how to pronounce the word they were reading, and people began to interpret the word as “jerry-mander,” so that’s what we call it today.
Gerrymandering has been condemned because it violates two basic tenets of electoral apportionment—compactness and equality of size of constituencies. I’ve been hearing the word “gerrymandering” a lot in the news lately. Elbridge Gerry was a powerful voice in the founding of the nation, but today he’s best known for the political practice with an amphibious origin The word “gerrymander” was coined at a Boston dinner party hosted by a prominent Federalist in March 1812, according to an 1892 article by historian John Ward Dean. The once famous phrase, Gerrymandering, some of our readers may remember. For a naked, avowed plan of gerrymandering no Government surely ever did beat this one. Gerrymandering, in U.S. politics, is the drawing of the boundaries of electoral districts in a way that gives one party an unfair advantage over its rivals. What Is Gerrymandering? Gerrymandering in the United States has been used to increase the power of a political party; the term "gerrymandering" was coined by a review of Massachusetts's redistricting maps of 1812 set by Governor Elbridge Gerry that was named because one of the districts looked like a salamander. The word is a combination of the words Gerry, for the state's governor, Elbridge Gerry, and salamander, as a particular electoral district was jokingly said to be shaped like a lizard. …must not be confused with gerrymandering—a form of arbitrary districting used to benefit the party that at a given time controls the apportionment process. The division of districts to produce either fair or gerrymandered results.

Why Do “Left” And “Right” Mean Liberal And Conservative? Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Instead, the justices held unanimously (9–0) that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue, and the case was remanded (7–2) to the district court for further argument. Who Is The “Jack” In The Term “Jack-o’-lantern,” Anyway? Gerrymander the noun was first used as such in 1812, and first used as a verb in 1813. But when his fears became obsessions, he overreacted and compromised his principles. Gerrymandering has existed in some fashion ever since the founding of the United States; and though the redistricting revolution made gerrymandering more difficult, it didn’t make it impossible. It wasn’t the first time in American history that political machinations were behind the drawing of district boundaries, but it would soon become the most famous. Erick Trickey is a writer in Boston, covering politics, history, cities, arts, and science. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Gerry signed the redistricting bill in February 1812 – reluctantly, if his son-in-law and first biographer, James T. Austin, is to be believed. The Twisted History of Gerrymandering in American Politics. The law consolidated the Federalist Party vote in a few districts and thus gave disproportionate representation to Democratic-Republicans. the dividing of a state, county, etc., into election districts so as to give one political party a majority in many districts while concentrating the voting strength of the other party into as few districts as possible. Gerrymandering, in U.S. politics, is the drawing of the boundaries of electoral districts in a way that gives one party an unfair advantage over its rivals. He has written for POLITICO Magazine, Next City, the Boston Globe, Boston Magazine, and Cleveland Magazine, Continue We know you’ll tackle this quiz totis viribus! Cookie Policy Keep up-to-date on: © 2020 Smithsonian Magazine.

Where does the term "Gerrymandering" come from, and how long has it been a part of U.S. politics? partisan gerrymander was unconstitutional, Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. “If every Man here was a Gerry,” John Adams wrote in July 1776, “the Liberties of America would be safe against the Gates of Earth and Hell.”, But Gerry was also a “a nervous, birdlike little person,” wrote biographer George Athan Billias in his 1976 book, Elbridge Gerry: Founding Father and Republican Statesman. “Affect” vs. “Effect”: Use The Correct Word Every Time. Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012. The Court found unanimously (9–0) that the plaintiffs, a group of 12 Wisconsin Democratic voters, lacked standing to sue under Article III of the U.S. Constitution, which (as traditionally interpreted) requires plaintiffs in federal lawsuits to show that their complaint proceeds from a specific,…, …noted for his opposition to gerrymandering. What’s the Difference Between a President and a Prime Minister? Unlike the boundaries between individual U.S. states, voting district boundaries are redrawn every 10 years to coincide with the U.S. Census. The father of gerrymandering.
One year later, in Wesberry v. Sanders, the Court declared that congressional electoral districts must be drawn in such a way that, “as nearly as is practicable, one man’s vote in a congressional election is to be worth as much as another’s.” And in the same year, the Court affirmed, in Reynolds v. Sims, that “the Equal Protection Clause requires that the seats in both houses of a bicameral state legislature must be apportioned on a population basis.”. 1812, "arrange political divisions in disregard of natural boundaries so as to give one party an advantage in elections," also from 1812 as a noun, American English, from name of Elbridge Gerry + (sala)mander. Until then, senatorial districts had followed county boundaries. Emily Barasch. Today, we see it in Ohio’s “Lake Erie Monster” and Pennsylvania’s “Goofy Kicking Donald Duck.” But where did the name come from, and who was the namesake for the much-maligned process? It’s an injustice that Gerry is best remembered for gerrymandering. Other sources credit Federalist newspaper editors, including Nathan Hale, with inventing the term, but either way, the cartoon appeared in the “Boston Gazette” and solidified the name and concept in the American imagination. Elected to the Continental Congress in December 1775, Gerry lobbied his fellow delegates to declare independence from Great Britain. All rights reserved. Gerrymander definition, the dividing of a state, county, etc., into election districts so as to give one political party a majority in many districts while concentrating the voting strength of the other party into as few districts as possible.