Milestone Documents of American Leaders

Elbridge Gerry’s Letter to the Electors of Middlesex: Document Text

by Elbridge Gerry

Letter to the Electors of Middlesex (1788)

Friends and Fellow Citizens:

Elbridge Gerry

ph_mdal_55_3c11790u_A.jpg

(Library of Congress)

It appearing from your suffrages that I am one of your candidates for a federal representative, give me leave for this evidence of your confidence, to express my warmest acknowledgments, but at the same time to request that such of you as may again be disposed to honour me with your votes, will turn your attention to some other candidate; for although I have been long honoured with the confidence of my countrymen, and am conscious that a regard to their political happiness has been the sole motive of my conduct, yet circumstanced as I am, an election would by no means be agreeable.

Since however my name is again, without any effort or inclination of my own, brought into public view, I embrace this opportunity to explain that conduct, for which I have been treated with so much invective and abuse.

When the question on the constitution was put in the federal convention, conceiving myself to be in a land of liberty, where the privilege of deliberating and voting with freedom would be firmly supported, I voted against the constitution, because in my opinion, it was in many respects defective.

Had my opinion been founded in error, it would have been only an error of judgment. But five states having ratified the constitution, in the fullest expectation of amendments, and two having rejected it, no one can, I think, deny that my opinion has been confirmed by a majority of the union. An attempt has been made by means of invective, to impair or destroy the privilege mentioned; a privilege, which no good citizen will ever permit to die in his hands, and which the good sense of the community will protect as one of the pillars of a free state.

Some have endeavoured to represent me as an enemy to the constitution; than which nothing is more remote from truth. Since the commencement of the revolution, I have been ever solicitous for an efficient federal government, conceiving that without it we must be a divided and unhappy people. A government too democratical, I have deprecated; but wished for one that should possess power sufficient for the welfare of the union, and at the same time be so balanced as to secure the governed from the rapacity and domination of lawless and insolent ambition. To an unconditional ratification I was therefore opposed, because thereby every necessary amendment would be precarious. But as the system is adopted, I am clearly of opinion that every citizen of the ratifying states is in duty bound to support it, and that an opposition to a due administration of it would not only be unjustifiable, but highly criminal.

Amendments every citizen has a right to urge without exciting a spirit of persecution, which is unnecessary in a good cause, and never gains proselytes in a bad one. Every friend of a vigorous government must, as I conceive, be desirous of such amendments as will remove the just apprehensions of the people, and secure their confidence and affection. To defeat amendments of this description, must be in effect to defeat the constitution itself. When the question on amendments shall have received a constitutional decision, I shall cheerfully acquiesce, and in any event, shall be happy to promote the interests of the respectable county of Middlesex, of this commonwealth, and of the United States.

The part, which I have had to act, and the uncandid treatment, which I have received in this matter will, I trust, justify me in being thus explicit, for I am conscious that every part of my political conduct has had for its object, the public welfare.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Gerry, Elbridge. "Elbridge Gerry’s Letter To The Electors Of Middlesex: Document Text." Milestone Documents of American Leaders, edited by Paul Finkelman, Salem Press, 2009. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=mdal_55e.
APA 7th
Gerry, E. (2009). Elbridge Gerry’s Letter to the Electors of Middlesex: Document Text. In P. Finkelman (Ed.), Milestone Documents of American Leaders. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Gerry, Elbridge. "Elbridge Gerry’s Letter To The Electors Of Middlesex: Document Text." Edited by Paul Finkelman. Milestone Documents of American Leaders. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2009. Accessed December 14, 2025. online.salempress.com.