To arrange the political divisions of a State, so that in an election, one party may obtain an advantage over its opponent, even though the latter may possess a majority of the votes in the State. This term came into use in the year 1811 in Massachusetts, where, for several years previous, the Federal and Democratic parties stood nearly equal. In that year the Democratic party, having a majority in the Legislature, determined so to district the State anew, that those sections which gave a large number of Federal votes might be brought into one district. The result was that the Democratic party carried everything before them at the following election, and filled every office in the State, although it appeared by the votes returned that nearly two-thirds of the voters were Federalists. Elbridge Gerry, a distinguished politician of that period, was the instigator of this plan, which was called gerrymandering after him.