Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814), American patriot and statesman, signed the Declaration of Independence and was vice president under James Madison.

Elbridge Gerry was one of 12 children born to Thomas and Elizabeth Gerry. Little is known of his youth, from his birth on July 17, 1744, in Marblehead, Mass., to his 1758 entrance to Harvard College. Upon graduation in 1762, he entered his father's prosperous mercantile firm. He joined a Marblehead social group that became increasingly political as Massachusetts felt the impact of Britain's imperial policy. In 1765 Gerry argued publicly that Americans might in conscience evade the new Stamp Act duties. In 1770 he served on the local Committee of Inspection to enforce the boycott of the Townshend Act, and 2 years later he aided Sam Adams in setting up committees of correspondence. With John and Sam Adams, Gerry made up the patriot triumvirate in the Bay Colony.

Prelude to Revolution

Gerry early became militantly anti-British...