It was an attempt to influence the outcome of an election, by taking advantage of voting patterns and interests in local districts. The results looked like a salamander on paper; someone called it a "Gerrymander", and the practice (or the attempt at the practice) is still called gerrymandering.
While governor of Massachusetts, Elbridge Gerry, redrew the congressional district lines in his state to give an advantage to his party, the Democratic-Republicans in 1812. The strangely redrawn congressional map reminded some of a salamander. The word 'gerrymander' was created by attaching Gerry's name to the word, salamander.
Governor Elbridge Gerry wanted to give his Democratic-Republican party an advantage and redrew the congressional districts to put the opposing side at a disadvantage. This unfortunate and controversial decision led to the act of gerrymandering, which is still in action today.
Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts redrew the congressional district in his state to give his party unfair political advantage.
When Elbridge Gerry was governor of Massachusetts he redrew the congressional district's so that each majority party would have equal representation. He was the 9th governor for the state and was in office from 1810 to 1812.
Governor Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts redrew congressional districts so it would be more favorable to his party. This process became known as gerrymandering.
The state legislators redraw congressional districts.
Eldridge Gerry of Massachusetts redrew the congressional districts in the state to give each party a fair representation. He served as a governor of Massachusetts and was also vice president of the United States when James Madison was in office.
State legislatures redraw the congressional districts every ten years.
Every 10 Years
The state legislature has the power to draw and redraw congressional district boundaries through a process called redistricting. By manipulating district lines, the legislature can create districts that are either favorable or unfavorable for specific political parties or incumbents. This practice, known as gerrymandering, can significantly influence elections by determining the composition of each district and ultimately impacting the outcome of the race.
As a result of the census, the congressional districts are reapportioned because of the population shift. States with increased population get more districts. State with lower populations lose them. State legislatures then have to redraw the district boundaries.
A gerrymander is an oddly shaped district design to increase the voting strength of a particular party. The name comes from salamander-shaped districts drawn up the influence of one Elbridge Gerry , a governor of Massachusetts. As a verb it means to draw up gerrymander districts. Gerrymandering tends to occur after each census which changes the number of Congressional districts in a state. States also need to change their own legislative distrcts from to time to time due to shifts in population and the new districts may be gerrymandered to help the party in power. The idea is to study past voting records and create as many districts as possible with a slight but solid majority for the controling party. It may be necessary to have some "lost" districts to which as many opposing voters as possible are placed.
1815
no
The census counts all the people in the nation. This determines the number of seats each state should receive in the U.S. House of Representatives. Then each state or local government must redraw the boundary lines for each district within their state. By law, each district should have about the same population and the district boundaries should touch one another.