A gubernatorial election was held in Massachusetts on April 7, 1788. John Hancock, the incumbent governor, defeated Elbridge Gerry, a former delegate to the United States Constitutional Convention.
The election took place in the immediate aftermath of a narrow vote to ratify the United States Constitution, which Hancock supported and Gerry opposed. A political moderate, Hancock's public endorsement of the Constitution was decisive in Massachusetts: although too ill to take his seat as president of the Massachusetts ratifying convention, his speech recommending adoption of the Constitution with amendments persuaded the closely-divided assembly to vote in favor of ratification. In recognition of his importance to the pro-ratification cause, the "friends of the Constitution" decided to promote the popular Hancock as the federalist candidate for governor; meanwhile, Gerry was put forward by the anti-federalists who remained skeptical of the incoming federal government. Gerry had been a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, but refused to sign the final document in protest of the Three-Fifths Clause, which inflated the representation of the slave states in the United States House of Representatives, and the lack of a bill of rights. Although Gerry publicly accepted the outcome of the ratification vote, the issue of the Constitution loomed large in the gubernatorial campaign. Despite the significant opposition to ratification, Gerry was ultimately unable to overcome Hancock's immense personal popularity and was defeated by more than 12,000 votes.
