There is no more invariable rule in
the history of society. The further electoral rights are extended, the
more is felt the need of extending them; for after each concession,
the strength of the democracy increases, and its demands increase with
its strength. The ambition of those who are below the appointed rate
is irritated, in exact proportion of the number of those who are above
it. The exception at last becomes the rule, concession follows
concession, and no step can be made, short of universal suffrage."
"Genymanderers,"1 he said, "who in the world are they? I never heard
of them before."
1 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 votes were Federalists. Elridge Gerry, a
distinguished politician at that period, was the inventor of that
plan, which was called Gerrymandering, after him.--Glossary of
Americanisms.
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