Clinton got his revenge on Madison and the rest of the Democratic-Republicans, whose increasingly pro-federal policies he came to deplore. When the vote to renew the Bank of the United States came before the Senate, it received a tie vote. As President of the Senate, Clinton broke the tie against the bill. His vote killed the Bank of the United States leaving the country unable to properly finance the War of 1812 a short time later. In April 1812, before that war started, Clinton died. He was the first Vice President to die in office.
When Madison ran for re-election, he selected another aging, veteran politician, and another Democratic-Republican from a usually Federalist state. He selected Elbridge Gerry from Massachusetts. Like Clinton, Gerry had served in the Revolutionary War and opposed the Constitution during the ratification process. As governor of Massachusetts, Gerry had been credited with the creation of elaborate and irregular voting district boundaries designed to benefit one party or faction over another. The practice bears his name to this day: Gerrymandering. By manipulating the state senate voting districts, Gerry and his fellow Democratic-Republicans arranged that in a few districts the Federalists would win by large majorities, and in a larger number of districts the Democratic-Republicans would win by small majorities. The result was that the Democratic-Republicans gained more seats than they deserved. One of these unusual districts was shaped on the map like a mythical animal. Some said it looked like a salamander, and it soon became known as a gerrymander.
As Vice President, Gerry opposed Madison’s policies almost as much as Clinton had. Actually, Gerry came closer to being President than he realized. During 1813, Madison became seriously ill and, for a short while, his life seemed threatened. But Madison recovered and Gerry died of a stroke in 1814, after a short and inconsequential term as Vice President.
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