In April 1810 Massachusetts Republicans regained the governor's chair and a small majority in the legislature after a brief period of Federalist resurgence caused by opposition to the Embargo Act of 1807. In 1811 Gov. Elbridge Gerry was reelected, and the Republicans captured both branches of the legislature. Convinced that Federalist opposition to President James Madison's nonintercourse acts would lead to rebellion. Re publicans proposed a series of electroal reforms to increase their numbers and throw Federalist out of office. In February 1812 the Republicans redrew the state's senatorial districts along partisan lines instead of following county boundaries, allowing their party to gain more seals. When Elkanah Tisdale, a Federalist artist, drew a map of one of the new districts, some people thought it looked like a salamander, prompting someone to suggest that it looked more like a "gerrymander." Despite having his name attached to the process of...