One of the earliest representations of a political plague that survives to this day.
“The horrid Monster...appeared in the County of Essex, during the last session of the Legislature. Various and manifold have been the speculations and conjectures among learned naturalists respecting the genus and origin of this astonishing production.”
The Newburyport Herald was the first newspaper outside of Boston to use the new political term, “gerrymander,” based on the Democratic-Republican governor’s name.