What is gerrymandering, and how does it contribute to gridlock?

1. Gerrymandering is the process by which politicians alter the boundaries of districts to disproportionately improve their chance of being re-elected.

You don't have to include this part in any answer, but, for your understanding of gerrymandering:

I'm a politician from the 'Red Political Party' in a town with 10 people, and when making a map of my district, I must put all 10 people into 3 districts, and each district has a single vote.

I want to make it so I have the best chance of winning. Of the people in my town, 4 people are in the Red Political Party (my party), and 6 people are members of my rival party, the Blue Political Party.

If there are more people in the opposing party, I shouldn't be able to win, should I? Here's where gerrymandering comes in.

I make district #1 comprised of 2 people from the Red Political Party, and 1 person from the Blue Political Party.

I make district #2 comprised of 4 people from the Blue Political Party, and none from the Red Political Party.

I make district #3 comprised of 2 people from the Red Political Party, and 1 person from the Blue Political Party.

Since all of the districts have 1 vote each; district #1 votes for the Red Political Party, district #2 votes for the Blue Political Party, and district #3 votes for the Red Political Party.

By using gerrymandering, I just won an election where only 40% of people voted for me, but 60% of people voted for the other candidate.

2. As a result, only the party who is control of altering the boundaries of districts will ever be re-elected since they draw them to their favor. The majority of people will neither be represented and will not be able to change their situation without outside help of state or federal officials.

`stare decisis is a legal doctrine that obligates courts to follow historical cases when making a ruling on a similar current or future case. stare decisis ensures that cases with identical facts be approached in the same way, unless overruled by the same court or a higher court such as the us supreme court. simply put, it binds courts to follow legal precedents set by previous decisions.

stare decisis is a latin term meaning "to stand by that which is decided".

d.

the northwest territory became the most densely populated area in the u.s.