Note 114 — Chapter XIV · CONGRESS AT WORK
Reading edition
When Elbridge Gerry was governor of Massachusetts in 1812, the state legislature rearranged the congressional districts in such a way that one of them had a dragon-like appearance. The boundaries of this district had been marked on a map in a local newspaper office. Gilbert Stuart, the famous painter, happened to come in and with his pencil added a head, wings, and claws to the figure. “That will do for a Salamander,” he said. “Better say a Gerry-mander,” replied the editor, and the outlandish name, thus accidentally coined, passed into the English language.