Elbridge Gerry Grave

ELBRIDGE GERRRY (1744–1814) served as Madison’s second vice president in 1812 until his death and is the only signer of the Declaration of Independence buried in DC. Born into a prominent merchant family in Marblehead, MA, his discontent with oppressive British taxation led him to participate in the revolutionary Committees of Correspondence and Continental Congresses before Independence was won. After the Revolutionary War, he was governor of Massachusetts when a redistricting bill became the butt of political jokes because a major district looked like a salamander, thus bringing “Gerrymander” into the political lexicon. He also served as ambassador to France.