Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/665

Rh Negotiations for a treaty of peace were opened in the spring of 1779, and, at the instigation of Mr. Gerry, the protection of the fishery rights was made a stipulated article for a settlement. It was while he was chairman of the treasury committee in the congress of 1780, to which body he had been elected for the fifth time in November, 1779, that Mr. Gerry came into the conflict with Benedict Arnold, whose accounts he overhauled in a manner highly displeasing to that officer.

Mr. Gerry's sensitiveness as to the riglits of a delegate from a sovereign state involved him in a difficulty with congress in February, 1780. which led him to vacate his seat in that body, holding that the rights of his state had been infringed in a refusal of congress to order the yeas and nays on a question of order raised by him. He laid his complaint before the legislature, which passed resolutions of protest. This incident suspended Mr. Gerry's congressional service for about three years. In 1783, on a joint ballot in the general court, he was recalled to the position of a representative in congress. Meanwhile his constituents had given him their suffrages for state senator and simultaneously for representative, there being at that time no provision against plurality of office. He undertook only the duty of representing his town in the lower house, declining senatorial service. The congress to which Gerry was now elected concluded the treaty of peace with Great Britain, and he was on the committee to arrange the matter. The states at that time regarded their delegates in the light of ministers from independent sovereignties, and the Massachusetts legislature required from Mr. Gerry a fortnightly report of his proceedings. The proposition to organize the Society of the Cincinnati met with the determined opposition of Gerry, who lost no opportunity in public and private of pointing out the dangerous character of such an unrepublican institution. A riot in Philadelphia in 1783 caused a removal of congress to Princeton in June of that year. This event brought up the plan of a federal city, and two committees, with Gerry as chairman of each, were appointed to examine sites. In April, 1785, Mr. Gerry's con- stituents repeated their performance of designating him for two elective offices, while he still held his place in congress. His term there expired in September, 1785, and he accepted a seat in the popular branch of the legislature of his state. The sentiment of Massachusetts as to a constitutional convention as expressed by the legislature in 1785 was in favor of estaljlishing " the Federal government on a firm basis, and to perfect the Union," declaring that " the present powers of congress of the United States, as contained in the articles of confederation, are not fully adequate to the great purposes they were originally designed to effect." These resolutions were given to Gerry, Ilolten, and King, in the form of instructions, but they construed them as merely advisory, and opposed every move in the congress of 1785 toward giving enlarged powers to the National government. They wi-ote a letter to Gov. Bowdoin in justification of their action, saying that " any alteration of the confederation is premature ; the grant of commercial power shovild be temporary ; . . . the cry for more power in congress comes especially- from those whose views are extended to an aris- tocracy." Gov. Bowdoin replied to the effect that if it was hazardous to intrust congress with powers necessary to its well-being, the Union could not long subsist. The letters of Gerry and King being concurred in by Samuel Adams, "then president of the senate, stayed any demonstration of disapproval by the general court. Despite this antagonistic attitude, Mr. Gerry was elected delegate to the convention. He took part in all its deliberations, and succeeded in introducing into the constitution some of his propositions, and his energies were directed throughout to the prevention of the incorporation in the system of any features which he regarded as monarchical or tending to aristocracy. At the final moment, regardless of the pleadings of Washington and Franklin, Gerry, Randolph, and Mason withheld their assent to the constitution as adopted by the convention. Gerry returned to Massachusetts to seek an election to the State federal convention, but was defeated by Francis Dana. The convention extended to him an invitation to attend its sessions, for the purpose of answering questions of fact in regard to the constitution, but at the outset he created a commotion in the assembly by offering in writing a reply to a query, some members thinking that he sought to interject an argument under the guise of answering a question. Tlie letter which caused the trouble, together with an account of the scene in the convention, taken from the " Massa- chusetts Sentinel," is printed in the edition of the debates and proceedings of the convention, pub- lished by the legislature in 1856. Mr. Gerry stated eight objections to the constitution, all of which he could waive, were it not that the National legis- lature had general power to make " necessary and proper " laws, to raise " armies and money " with- out limit, and to establish " a star chamber as to civil cases." Weary of sitting in a body to which he had not been chosen, he soon withdrew.

After the adoption of the constitution, Gerry was in accord with the Republican party, which elected him to the 1st National congress in 1789, and re-elected him in 1791. In 1797 President Adams nominated liim as a colleague with Marshall and Pinckney to go on a mission to France to obtain amends for French depredations on our com- merce. In France they suffered many indignities at the hands of Talleyrand, who sent mysterious agents with disgraceful propositions, involving bribery and humiliation. Marshall and Pinckney soon became disgusted, and sailed for home, but Gerry thought it his duty to hold on, in the hope of preventing a rupture with France. (See Adams, John.) The affair aroused great indignation in the United States, and his recall was soon ordered.

In 1800 the Republican party nominated Mr. Gerry for governor, and in a close election he was defeated by Caleb Strong. In 1810 his efforts for the same office were rewarded with success, and he served for two terms. His administration was at a period of high party spirit, and he put into full effect the Jeffersonian principles of civil service. The incumbents of the civil offices were speedily removed from office, and their places filled by sympathizers with the Republican party, causing a great outcry in the opposition papers. The Fed- eral press became so vituperative in its denuncia- tions that Gov. Gerry resorted to the extraordinary step of making the matter the subject of a special message to the legislature, transmitting at the same time a report of the attorney- and solicitor- general regarding the libellous articles. The mes- sage caused great excitement and the opposition responded by charging the governor with usurping- his powers. The disaffection created by these pro- ceedings, and the unpopularity occasioned by the partisan redistricting of the state, which was called by the Federalists the " Gerrymander," effected an overturn at the next election, the Federalists gain- ing control of the house, and electing Caleb Strong