Re: Gerrymandering explained.
Posted by:
grophusharris
()
Date: April 10, 2017 04:38PM
This is some alien liberal "comedian" trying to pass himself off as knowledgeable but instead acting as a propaganda outlet for the DNC.
He does not even have his history on the thing correct. It does originate with Elbridge Gerry, allright, and he did pronounce his name with a hard "G". It has little to do with politics and more with personal animosity that Gerry, from Marblehead, had toward residents of Salem. Salem was the County Seat of Essex County. It had been since colonial times. Gerry separated Salem from Essex County and moved the County Seat to Newburyport.
After they ran Gerry out of office, they moved the County Seat back to Salem and tried to set the boundaries back the way that they were. Of course, Gerry had almost all of the boundary stones uprooted, so it was difficult. There are reams of testimony from people about where the boundaries should have been (much like the Monte Cassino depositions from the Middle Ages in Italy). Still, they never could get it back quite right.
Essex County feels the effects of Gerry's miscreance to this day. While the State, County and City of Salem Courts are In Salem in the same place that they have been since colonial times (except for Gerry's tenure, of course. Also, the building is not the same, but it was always in the same place), the Federal Courts for Essex County are STILL in Newburyport. The boundaries are STILL a mess, and it is obvious to anyone who looks at them. You can go straight down more than a few roads in Essex County and leave, re-enter, leave, re-enter the same town.
My parents' house is in Ipswich. Their neighbour's is in Topsfield. They are both on the same pond. One creek that might have been a boundary is far toward the ocean. Another creek that might have been a boundary is two lots into Topsfield. Odds are that almost all of that pond was originally in Topsfield as were the properties on it. The road that is now Route 1 might, in fact, have been the boundary as well. No one is too sure, any more.
I am originally from Essex County, so I know my subject. If you want to learn more about it, the next time that you are in Salem, go to the Peabody Museum. You must pay to get in, but if you want to learn about Essex County, it is the place to go.