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John Hancock (January 12, 1737 (O.S.) – October 8, 1793 (N.S.)) was
President of the Second Continental Congress and of the Congress of the
Confederation; first Governor of Massachusetts; and the first person to
sign the United States Declaration of Independence.
John Hancock was born in Braintree, Massachusetts in a part of town
which eventually became the separate city of Quincy, Massachusetts. His
father died when he was young, and he was adopted by his paternal
uncle—Thomas Hancock, a highly successful merchant in New England.
After graduating from Boston Latin School, he attended Harvard
University and received a degree in 1754, when he was 17. Upon
graduation, he worked for his uncle. From 1760–1764, Hancock lived in
England while building relationships with customers and suppliers of
his uncle's shipbuilding business. Shortly after his return from
England, his uncle died and he inherited the fortune and business,
making him the wealthiest man in New England at the time. After his
aunt's death in 1776, he inherited the Hancock Manor as well.
Hancock married Dorothy Quincy. (Dorothy Quincy's aunt, who had the
same name as her niece, was the great-grandmother of Oliver Wendell
Holmes.) John and Dorothy had two children, neither of whom survived to
adulthood. Lydia Hancock (Oct 1776–Aug 1777); died at the age of
about ten months.
John George Washington Hancock (21 May 1778–27 January 1787); died at the age of eight years.
A Boston selectman and representative to the Massachusetts General
Court, his colonial trade business naturally disposed him to resist the
Stamp Act, which attempted to restrict colonial trading.
The Stamp Act was repealed, but later acts (such as the Townshend Acts)
led to further taxation on common goods. Eventually, Hancock's shipping
practices became more evasive, and he began to smuggle glass, lead,
paper and tea. In 1768, upon arriving from England, his sloop Liberty
was impounded by British customs officials for violation of revenue
laws. This caused a riot among some infuriated Bostonians expecting the
supplies on board.
His regular merchant trade as well as his smuggling practices financed
much of his region's resistance to British authority and his financial
contributions led the people of Boston to joke that "Sam Adams writes
the letters [to newspapers] and John Hancock pays the postage" (Fradin
& McCurdy, 2002).
At first only a financier of the growing rebellion, he later became a
public critic of British rule. On March 5, 1774, the fourth anniversary
of the Boston Massacre, he gave a speech strongly condemning the
British. In the same year, he was unanimously elected president of the
Provisional Congress of Massachusetts, and presided over its Committee
of Safety. Under Hancock, Massachusetts was able to raise bands of
"minutemen"—soldiers who pledged to be ready for battle in a minute's
notice—and his boycott of tea imported by the British East India
Company eventually led to the Boston Tea Party.
In April 1775 as the British intent became apparent, Hancock and Samuel
Adams slipped away from Boston to elude capture, staying in the
Hancock-Clarke House in Lexington, Massachusetts (which can still be
seen to this day). There Paul Revere roused them about midnight before
the British troops arrived at dawn for the Battle of Lexington and
Concord. At this time, General Thomas Gage ordered Hancock and Adams
arrested for treason. Following the battle a proclamation was issued
granting a general pardon to all who would demonstrate loyalty to the
crown—with the exceptions of Hancock and Adams. On May 24, 1775, he was
elected the third President of the Second Continental Congress,
succeeding Peyton Randolph. He would serve until October 30, 1777, when
he was himself succeeded by Henry Laurens. In the first month of
his presidency, on June 19, 1775, Hancock commissioned George
Washington commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. A year later,
Hancock sent Washington a copy of the July 4, 1776 congressional
resolution calling for independence as well as a copy of the
Declaration of Independence.
Hancock's signature on the United States Declaration of Independence
John Trumbull's famous painting is sometimes incorrectly identified as
a depiction of the signing of the Declaration. What the painting
actually depicts is the five-man drafting committee presenting their
work to the Congress. Trumbull's painting can also be found on the back
of the U.S. $2 bill.
John Trumbull's famous painting is sometimes incorrectly identified as
a depiction of the signing of the Declaration. What the painting
actually depicts is the five-man drafting committee presenting their
work to the Congress. Trumbull's painting can also be found on the back
of the U.S. $2 bill.
Hancock was the only one to sign the Declaration of Independence on the
fourth; the other 55 delegates signed on August 2nd (see also "Lee
Resolution" that declared independence on July 2nd). He also requested
Washington have the Declaration read to the Continental Army. According
to popular legend, he signed his name largely and clearly to be sure
King George III could read it without his spectacles, causing his name
to become, in the United States, an eponym for "signature". However,
other examples suggest that Hancock always wrote his signature this way.
From 1780–1785, he was governor of Massachusetts. Hancock's skills as
orator and moderator were much admired, but during the American
Revolution he was most often sought out for his ability to raise funds
and supplies for American troops. Despite his skill in the merchant
trade, even Hancock had trouble meeting the Continental Congress's
demand for beef cattle to feed the hungry army. On January 19, 1781,
General Washington warned Hancock:
"I should not trouble your Excellency, with such reiterated
applications on the score of supplies, if any objects less than the
safety of these Posts on this River, and indeed the existence of the
Army, were at stake. By the enclosed Extracts of a Letter, of
Yesterday, from Major Genl. Heath, you will see our present situation,
and future prospects. If therefore the supply of Beef Cattle demanded
by the requisitions of Congress from Your State, is not regularly
forwarded to the Army, I cannot consider myself as responsible for the
maintenance of the Garrisons below West Point, New York, or the
continuance of a single Regiment in the Field." (United States Library
of Congress, 1781.)
“In circumstances as dark as these, it becomes us, as Men and
Christians, to reflect that whilst every prudent measure should be
taken to ward off the impending judgments, …at the same time all
confidence must be withheld from the means we use; and reposed only on
that God rules in the armies of Heaven, and without His whole blessing,
the best human counsels are but foolishness… Resolved; …Thursday the
11th of May…to humble themselves before God under the heavy judgments
felt and feared, to confess the sins that have deserved them, to
implore the Forgiveness of all our transgressions, and a spirit of
repentance and reformation …and a Blessing on the … Union of the
American Colonies in Defense of their Rights [for which hitherto we
desire to thank Almighty God]…That the people of Great Britain and
their rulers may have their eyes opened to discern the things that
shall make for the peace of the nation…for the redress of America’s
many grievances, the restoration of all her invaded liberties, and
their security to the latest generations.”
Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer, with a total abstinence from
labor and recreation. Proclamation on April 15, 1775 In 1772,
Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral was published. John
Hancock was among those who signed the attestation that Phillis
Wheatley, an African American, was its author, refuting the popular
assertion that a black woman could not have the intellect to produce
the work. When, in 1773, the book was put on display in Aldgate, London
(having been refused by Boston publishers) it thus became the first
book by an African American to be officially published. He was
also a Freemason. As Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, he
presented a flag to the Bucks of America black military unit of Boston.
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