His administration, which was marked by extreme partisanship, was especially notable for the enactment of a law by which the state was divided into new senatorial districts in such a manner as to consolidate the Federalist vote in a few districts, thus giving the Democratic-Republicans an undue advantage. The outline of one of these districts, which was thought to resemble a salamander, gave rise in 1812, through a popular application of the governor's name, to the term "Gerrymander" (q.v.). In 1812, Gerry, who was an ardent advocate of the war with Great Britain, was elected vice-president of the United States, on the ticket with James Madison. He died in office at Washington on the 23rd of November 1814. See J. T. Austin, _Life of Elbridge Gerry, with Contemporary Letters_ (2 vols., Boston, 1828-1829). GERRYMANDER (usually pronounced "jerrymander," but the _g_ was originally pronounced hard), an American expression which has taken root in the English language, meaning to arrange election districts so as to give an unfair advantage to the party in power by means of a redistribution act, and so to manipulate constituencies generally, or arrange any political measure, with a view to an unfair party advantage. The word is derived from the name of the American politician Elbridge Gerry (q.v.). John Fiske, in his _Civil Government in the United States_ (1890), says that in 1812, when Gerry was governor of Massachusetts, the Democratic state legislature (in order, according to Winsor, to secure an increased representation of the Democratic party in the state senate) "redistributed the districts in such wise that the shapes of the towns forming a single district in Essex county gave to the district a somewhat dragon-like contour. This was indicated upon a map of Massachusetts which Benjamin Russell, an ardent Federalist and editor of the _Centinel_, hung up over the desk in his office. The painter, Gilbert Stuart, coming into the office one day and observing the uncouth figure, added with his pencil a head, wings and claws, and exclaimed, 'That will do for a salamander!' 'Better say a Gerrymander,' growled the editor; and the outlandish name, thus duly coined, soon came into general currency." It was, however, only the name that was new. Fiske (who also refers to Winsor's _Memorial History of Boston_, iii. 212, and Bryce's _American Commonwealth_, i. 121) says that gerrymandering, as a political dodge, "seems to have been first devised in 1788, by the enemies of the Federal constitution in Virginia, in order to prevent the election of James Madison to the first Congress, and fortunately it was unsuccessful." But it was really earlier than that, and in the American colonial period political advantage was often obtained by changing county lines. In 1709 the Pennsylvania counties of Bucks, Chester and Philadelphia formed a combination for preventing the city of Philadelphia from securing its proportionate representation; and in 1732