DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE]. GERRY, Elbridge (1744-1814), Signer (Massachusetts), Vice-president . Autograph draft letter, unsigned, to Mercy Otis Warren, Cambridge, 20 August 1805, written on integral leaf of Warren's 2 page letter to Gerry, 29 July 1805. 1 page, 8vo, evidence of mounting on address leaf . ELBRIDGE GERRY ON THE AUTHORSHIP OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE: "IT WAS MR. JEFFERSON'S DRAFT" Mercy Otis Warren was nearly finished with her History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution (1805), but there was one crucial point she wanted Gerry to confirm. He did so unequivocally: "I have recd, dear madam, your letter of 29th of July, & having been in Congress, at the time when the declaration of independence was reported, & also when it was debated & passed, I think you may assert with truth, that it was the draft of Mr. Jefferson. Distant as the period of that event is, the impression is strong on my mind, that after hearing and admiring the draft, I enquired of Mr. Adams, a member of the Committee 'whether we were indebted to him for the elegant composition'? & was answered in the negative, & that he informed me Mr. Jefferson drafted it. Be this as it may, there never existed in my mind a doubt of the fact, & I have never heard it questioned by any person who was at that time a member of Congress. Gerry also cleared up another question from Warren: "I never heard that Gouverneur Morris said in Convention or elsewhere, 'that whoever had the power had the right, to sell the people at anytime.' He undoubtedly is an eccentric genius, but if he had in my hearing advanced such a position, I think an impression on my mind would not have been effaced, & I have not the least recollection of any such declaration." Gerry ran unsuccessfully for governor of Massachusetts four times, before finally winning in 1810. During that term he made his contribution to American political slang with his "gerrymandering" of electoral districts. James Madison tapped him for the vice-presidency, in which office Gerry died in 1814.
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE]. GERRY, Elbridge (1744-1814), Signer (Massachusetts), Vice-president . Autograph draft letter, unsigned, to Mercy Otis Warren, Cambridge, 20 August 1805, written on integral leaf of Warren's 2 page letter to Gerry, 29 July 1805. 1 page, 8vo, evidence of mounting on address leaf . ELBRIDGE GERRY ON THE AUTHORSHIP OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE: "IT WAS MR. JEFFERSON'S DRAFT" Mercy Otis Warren was nearly finished with her History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution (1805), but there was one crucial point she wanted Gerry to confirm. He did so unequivocally: "I have recd, dear madam, your letter of 29th of July, & having been in Congress, at the time when the declaration of independence was reported, & also when it was debated & passed, I think you may assert with truth, that it was the draft of Mr. Jefferson. Distant as the period of that event is, the impression is strong on my mind, that after hearing and admiring the draft, I enquired of Mr. Adams, a member of the Committee 'whether we were indebted to him for the elegant composition'? & was answered in the negative, & that he informed me Mr. Jefferson drafted it. Be this as it may, there never existed in my mind a doubt of the fact, & I have never heard it questioned by any person who was at that time a member of Congress. Gerry also cleared up another question from Warren: "I never heard that Gouverneur Morris said in Convention or elsewhere, 'that whoever had the power had the right, to sell the people at anytime.' He undoubtedly is an eccentric genius, but if he had in my hearing advanced such a position, I think an impression on my mind would not have been effaced, & I have not the least recollection of any such declaration." Gerry ran unsuccessfully for governor of Massachusetts four times, before finally winning in 1810. During that term he made his contribution to American political slang with his "gerrymandering" of electoral districts. James Madison tapped him for the vice-presidency, in which office Gerry died in 1814.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
