AP U.S. HISTORY
MR. WAGENBERG
A Warning to the Delegates about Leveling (1787)
Elbridge Gerry
Shays's Rebellion (see text pp. 200-201) horrified most Americans. It seemed to demonstrate how
impotent the federal government was and how easily the Union might slip into chaos. However,
for many Americans Shays's Rebellion also signaled the need to reassess the nature of the
American experiment with democracy. That certainly was the case for Elbridge Gerry, a delegate
from Massachusetts to the Constitutional Convention. Gerry, a prominent Massachusetts Patriot,
had signed the Declaration of Independence and served in the Confederation Congress. On May
31, 1787, during the Constitutional Convention's deliberations about allowing the people to elect
members of the U.S. Senate directly, Gerry told his fellow delegates what Shays's Rebellion
meant to him.
Source: Max Farrand, ed., The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, rev. ed., 1:48, 50. Copyright 1911 by Yale University
Press. Reprinted by permission.
Mr Gerry. The evils we experience flow from the excess of democracy. The people do not want virtue; but are the
dupes of pretended patriots. In Massts.[Massachusetts] it has been fully confirmed by experience that they are
daily misled into the most baneful measures and opinions by the false reports circulated by designing men, and
which no one on the spot can refute. One principal evil arises from the want of due provision for those employed
in the administration of Governnt. It would seem to be a maxim of democracy to starve the public servants. He
mentioned the popular clamour in Massts. for the reduction of salaries and the attack made on that of the Govr.
though secured by the spirit of the Constitution itself. He had he said been too republican heretofore: he was still
however republican, but had been taught by experience the danger of the levilling spirit....
Mr Gerry [said he] did not like the election by the people. The maxims taken from the British constitution
were often fallacious when applied to our situation which was extremely different. Experience he said had shewn
that the State Legislatures drawn immediately from the people did not always possess their confidence. He had no
objection however to an election by the people if it were so qualified that men of honor and character might not be
unwilling to be joined in the appointments. He seemed to think the people might nominate a certain number out of
which the State legislatures should be bound to choose.
Questions
1. According to Gerry, what kind of problems produced the dissatisfaction that burst forth in Shays's Rebellion?
2. According to Gerry, who caused Shays's Rebellion?
3. If democracy is defined as allowing the average person to exercise real political power, would you describe
Gerry as a supporter of democracy? Why or why not?