π¦ What Texas Just Did Isn't New, Gerrymandering Started Here
Published 29 days agoΒ β’Β 6 min read
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Hello, Reader!
What links today's redistricting fight in Texas to a founding father you may not know?
This week, Texas lawmakers released a new electoral map that critics say distorts representation to favor one political party.
But this tactic isn't new. It dates back to 1812 and to a man named Elbridge Gerry. β
πΌοΈ The Big Picture
What's Happening: Texas Republicans released a new election map this week that some analysts say may favor incumbents and limit the influence of demographic change within districts. [1]
β οΈ Why It Matters: Redistricting isn't just about map-making cartography. It's a fight over political power, access, and the promise of a representative government.
π What History Reveals: The term gerrymander emerged in 1812, and the political logic behind it has barely changed in 200 years.
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π Historical Deep Dive
π€ Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814)
Born into a wealthy Marblehead, Massachusetts family on July 17, 1744, Elbridge Gerry led an impressive political career:
1772-1775: Member of the Massachusetts General Court (colonial legislature)
1774-1776: Member of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress
1776-1780: Member of the Second Continental Congress
1810-1811: Governor of Massachusetts (Jeffersonian)
1813-1814: Vice President of the United States
Yet today, his name lives on because of one controversial map.
π¦ The "Gerry-Mander"
In 1812, during his second term as Massachusetts Governor, Elbridge Gerry signed a redistricting bill that helped his Democratic-Republican party keep control of the Massachusetts Senate.
One bizarrely shaped district in Essex County, was so contorted that critics likened it to a monster. One political cartoon labeled it the "Gerry-mander."
And the redistricting worked; Federalists won 51 percent of the vote but just 27 percent of state senate seats. [2]
The political cartoon that gave birth to the term "Gerrymandering." Artist Elkanah Tisdale. Courtesy of Library of Congress.β
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π What the U.S. Constitution Says About Electoral Redistricting
The United States Constitution does not mention or define congressional districts. Instead, Article I, Section 2 establishes the United States House of Representatives:
The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States.
And Article 1, Section 4 of the Constitution puts forth:
The Times, Places, and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators. [3]
This silence left the door open for electoral map manipulation in the states.
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π³οΈ 1842: Enter the Single-Member District
As the Constitution leaves the power to organize elections to individual states, each state had significant flexibility in how it elected representatives to the U.S. Congress.
Some states adopted at-large systems where all voters within the states voted for all of the state's representatives.
In contrast, other states adopted multi-member districts where voters were allowed to elect multiple representatives.
By the 1830s, the variation in state electoral districts settled into two competing systems: single-member districts and general ticket elections.
Single-member districts are recognizable to us today. In these districts, the single candidate who receives the most votes wins the right to represent their geographical district in the House of Representatives.
General ticket elections allowed voters to cast votes for the number of candidates who would represent their state, not just their district.
In April 1842, the United States Congress passed the Apportionment Act.
In 1842, Congress made two substantial changes to the House of Representatives:
For the first time in its history, it shrank the size of the House: from 242 seats to 223 seats. (Today it has 435 seats.)
It standardized what congressional districts should look like.
In 1840, William Henry Harrison won the Presidential election, and his Whig Party won majorities in both the House and Senate. As general ticket voting had proved damaging to the Whig Party in the past, the 27th Congress created and passed the 1842 Apportionment Bill that required all states to adopt single-member voting districts. [3]
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πΊοΈ Gerrymandering in the Present Day
Today, advanced data and mapping software allow state governments to redraw electoral districts with remarkable precision.
In 1962, the Supreme Court ruled in Baker v. Carr that federal courts could review redistricted maps.
In 1989, the Court used its ruling in Thornburg v. Gingles to set standards for proving racial gerrymandering in compliance with the Voting Rights Act.
And in Rucho v. Common Cause (2019), the Court declared that partisan gerrymandering was a "political question" outside the scope of federal courts.[4]
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π¬ Final Thought
Elbridge Gerry's legacy reminds us that even in the founding era, political maps shaped power.
Gerrymandering has evolved from a pen-and-ink practice to a practice undertaken by sophisticated algorithms. But the question remains: Can a democracy be fair if politicians choose their voters?
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π§ Go Deeper
Curious about the history behind some of the events in this newsletter? Check out:
π³ Democracy & Voting in British Americaβ βEpisode 284β Explore what voting looked like before the American Revolution, and how colonial practices shaped early American ideas of democracy.
π³ Elections & Voting in the Early Republicβ βEpisode 285β Investigate how new Americans built voting systems after independence.
π³ Elections in Early America: Native Sovereigntyβ βEpisode 286β Hear how Native Nations balanced their own political systems with American-imposed elections and power struggles.
π³ Presidential Elections & the Electoral Collegeβ βEpisode 287β Probe why the Founders created the Electoral College, and how this institution has shaped presidential politics from the start.
πΊπΈ Politics & Political Culture in the Early American Republicβ βEpisode 393β Discover the party politics, regional rivalries, and the rise of an American political culture that still shapes our political system today.
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π¬ What Do You Think?
If you could ask one of the Constitution's framers how they envisioned fair elections, who would it be, and what would you ask them?
[3] United States House of Representatives, "The Apportionment Act of 1842: "In All Cases, By District,"" Whereas: Stories from the People's House," April 16, 2019, https://history.house.gov/Blog/2019/April/4-16-Apportionment-1/, accessed July 31, 2025.
Alexander Keyssar, The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States, (New York: Basic Books, 2009)
S. E. Morrison, "Elbridge Gerry, Gentleman-Democrat," The New England Quarterly, January 1929, Vol. 2, No. 1, pgs 6-33, https://www.jstor.org/stable/359818?seq=9, accessed July 31, 2025.
Rosemarie Zaggari, The Politics of Size in the United States, 1776-1850, (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1988).
Rosemarie Zaggari, Revolutionary Backlash: Women and Politics in the Early American Republic, (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011).
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