The Gerry-Mander cartoon that led to the coining of the term gerrymander. It first appeared in the Boston Gazette on March 26, 1812, and was quickly reprinted in Federalist newspapers in Salem (this copy is from the Salem Gazette from April 2, 1813) and Boston. It was created in reaction to the newly drawn state senate election district of South Essex created by the Massachusetts legislature to favor the Democratic-Republican Party candidates of Governor Elbridge Gerry over the Federalists. The caricature satirizes the bizarre shape of a district in Essex County, Massachusetts, as a dragon-like monster. Federalist newspaper editors and others at the time likened the district shape to a salamander, and the word gerrymander was a blend of that word and Governor Gerry's last name. The author was Elkanah Tisdale (1771-1835) (it is often falsely attributed to Gilbert Stuart).