Video: 'Vice President Elbridge Gerry: Our Vices #5'

(Tuesday, July 17, 1744) — Elbridge Gerry, the fifth vice president of the United States under President James Madison from 1813 until his death in 1814 at age 70, was born today in the North Shore town of Marblehead, Massachusetts.

Born into a wealthy merchant family, Gerry vocally opposed British colonial policy in the 1760s and was active in the early stages of organizing the resistance in the American Revolutionary War.

Elected to the Second Continental Congress, Gerry signed both the Declaration of Independence and Articles of Confederation.

He was one of three men who attended the Constitutional Convention in 1787, but refused to sign the Constitution because originally it did not include a Bill of Rights. After its ratification, he was elected to the inaugural United States Congress, where he was actively involved in the drafting and passage of the Bill of Rights as an advocate of individual and state liberties.

In 1810, Gerry was elected Governor of Massachusetts. During his second term, the legislature approved new state senate districts that led to the coining of the word “gerrymander,” the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent to create undue advantage for a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency.

Gerry was nominated by the Democratic-Republican party and elected as vice president in the 1812 election.

Advanced in age and in poor health, Gerry served 21 months of his term before becoming the second vice president to die in office.