Signer of the
Declaration of Independence; born in
Marblehead, Mass., July 17, 1744; graduated at Harvard in 1762; took part in the early strife before the Revolution, and in 1772 represented his native town in the State legislature.
Gerry was the first to propose, in the Provincial Congress of
Massachusetts, a law for fitting out armed vessels and establishing a court of admiralty.
He took a seat in the Continental Congress early in 1776, signed the
Declaration of Independence, and remained in that body, with few intermissions, until 1785.
He was an efficient member of finance committees in the
Congress, and was president of the treasury board in 1780.
A delegate in the convention that framed the national Constitution, he was one of those who refused to sign the instrument.
He was a member of Congress from 1789 to 1793, and in 1797 was sent as one of the special envoys on a mission to
France.
He was elected governor of
Massachusetts by the Democratic party in 1810, and in 1812 was chosen
Vice-President of the
United States.
He died in
Washington, D. C., while
Vice-President, Nov. 23, 1814.
