Elbridge+Gerry

​Jeffrey Chew Block B Elbridge Gerry

Elbridge Gerry

Elbridge Gerry was one of the most important politicians during the Constitution Convention. He was one of the delegates who did not sign the Constitution, who was also one of the most vocal delegates. Gerry was best known for giving his name as a political process for electoral districts called "gerrymandering".
 * Introduction**

Elbridge Gerry was an American statesman and diplomat. He was most famous for refusing to sign the Constitution. Gerry was born on July 17, 1744 in Marblehead, Massachusetts. He was a graduate from Harvard, where he studied to become a doctor. As a Democratic-Republican, he was selected as the fifth Vice President of the United States, serving under President James Madison. He served in the Continental Congress from February 1776 to 1780, and was elected to represent Massachusetts in the House of Representatives, which he served from 1789 to 1793. Gerry was also one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. He later became the ninth Governor of Massachusetts. He died on November 23, 1814 during office.
 * Background Information**

In 1787, he attented the Constitution Convention. However, he did not support the Constitution, and became one of the delegates to vote against it. He decided to not sign it because it did not have the Bill of Rights. He also believed that the Constitution was a threat to republicanism.
 * Role in the Constitution**

The Constitution guarded against tyranny in four ways: federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, and the number of representatives and senators in big states and small states.
 * DBQ**

Federalism is the division of power between central and state governments. The state and central government have separate powers, which provides "double security" to the people. Central government and states chare power, such as tax, money, setting up courts, making and establishing laws. Elbridge Gerry served as an Anti-Federalist in the national House of Representatives from 1789 to 1793, who took in important parts in debates and other legislative concerns.

Separation of power is the Constitutional distributing of powers within the federal government among the legislative, executive, and judicial powers. The powers were divided into legislative, executive, and judicial branches with different jobs of the laws. The legislative branch "makes the law", the executive branch "carries out the law", and the Judicial branch "interprets the law". Elbridge Gerry felt that the national government should need separation of powers.

Checks and balances was a system in which each of the branches of the federal government can check the actions of the other branches. The government separates the power among three branches. These branches can check on each other, but they have no control over each other. Elbridge Gerry relates to checks and balances by suggesting to change Congress's power to "make and declare war", during the draft of the Constitution.

Big states and small states were determined by the number of representatives and states. The number of representatives in House of Representatives was determined by the state's population. The number of senators in the Senate only had two in each state. No one state has more than two senators. Elbridge Gerry represented Massachusetts in Congress in the House of Representatives, from 1789 to 1792.



Elbridge Gerry attended most of the Constitutional Convention meetings. Gerry did not attend the Constitutional Convention until May 29, 1787. Gerry was absent from August 6 to August 9, 1787. When he returned to the Constitutional Convention meetings on August 10, 1787, he remained present until the last meeting on September 17 of Act IV of the Constitutional Convention. Although Elbridge Gerry was absent for a few days (7.9% of the time), he was mostly present at the Constitution Convention (76.4%).
 * Elbridge Gerry's Attendance Record**


 * **​** || **Present ** || **Absent ** || **Do Not Know ** || **Probably Present ** || **Probably Absent ** ||
 * **Act 1 ** || 15 || 3 || 0 || 4 || 0 ||
 * **Act 2 ** || 22 || 0 || 0 || 8 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">0 ||
 * **<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">Act 3 ** || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">18 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">4 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">0 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">1 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">0 ||
 * **<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">Act 4 ** || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">13 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">0 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">0 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">1 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">0 ||
 * **<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">Totals ** || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">68 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">7 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">0 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">14 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">0 ||
 * **<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">% ** || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">76.4% || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">7.9% || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">0% || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">15.7% || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">0 % ||

__Constitutional Connection__: Elbridge Gerry's Constitutional connection reflects on his action of not signing the Constitution. During the convention, Gerry opposed the Constitution because it did not contain the Bill of Rights. He also felt that the Constitution was a threat to Republicanism. However, he did feel a little positive about the Constitution because he felt that the amendments can relieve most of the problems of the Constitution. Later in 1789, he announced his willing to support for the Constitution and was elected to the First Congress, where he defended the Federalist policies.
 * Primary Sources**

__Bill of Rights__: Elbridge Gerry had a big connection with the Bill of Rights. The main reason Gerry did not sign the Constitution was because the Constitution did not contain the Bill of Rights. Therefore, he felt that the Constitution did not have a sufficient way for separation of powers. Gerry had many fears of signing the Constitution, including having the lack of the Bill of Rights.



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 * Works Cited**