John Hancock portrait by John Singleton Copley
Today being the Fourth of July, and I being an American citizen, I thought it might be fitting to make a post related to the American revolution, and so I present you with a brief historical profile of John Hancock.
John Hancock was born on January 23, 1737 in Braintree, Massachusetts and died October 8, 1793. During those years he lived a rather interesting life, yet he remains one of the Founding Fathers about which the average citizen knows little about.
Hancock was orphaned as a child, and was adopted and raised by his uncle, a wealthy Bostonian merchant. Hancock attended Harvard for a business education and graduated at age 17. He apprenticed under his uncle and proved himself a valuable asset. So valuable was he, in fact, that in 1760 he was sent to England on a business mission. There, Hancock attended the coronation of King George III and met with some of the most prominent of London's businessmen.
Hancock's uncle died three years later in 1763, and Hancock inherited what was likely "the greatest body of wealth in New England" (Source: USHistory.org – John Hancock), which placed Hancock easily within the realm of the wealthy business elite of his time – a group of people benefitting greatly from the political arrangement and stability of the Colonies' subjugation to Mother England; however, John Hancock soon became involved in the push for revolution in the colonies. When the British government began imposing greater regulatory measures and exercising greater influence over the colonies in the mid 1760's, anti-British sentiment grew in the colonies, and Hancock used his wealth and influence to aid the new call for independence.
Hancock was in circles with the Adamses, and, in fact, Samuel Adams took Hancock on as his protégé. Samuel Adams, being one of the more extreme revolutionaries, undoubtedly kindled in Hancock much of his passionate and even flamboyant anti-British protest.
In 1768, Hancock's sloop ("a one-masted sailboat with a fore-and-aft mainsail and a jib" – New Oxford American Dictionary) was impounded by the British and held on charges of smuggling contraband into the colonies. The result of this action was that "a large group of private citizens stormed the customs post, burned the government boat, and beat the officers" (USHistory.org – John Hancock). Shortly thereafter, Hancock assisted the Boston Tea Party, and the following year he publicly delivered a speech commemorating the Boston Massacre.
Hancock went on to become elected to office in Massachusetts. He was the first governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He also served in the Stamp Act Congress and the Continental Congress. His famous signature sits at the bottom of the Declaration of Independence. He was the first to sign and two unfounded reports claim that he either said "The British Ministry can read that name without spectacles; let them double their reward" or "There, I guess King George will be able to read that!"
Under the Articles of Confederation, Hancock was elected as the first president of the government of the now independent colonies; however, he had little real power as President under the Articles, and he never even attended the Congress due to its floundering effectiveness and his own disinterest, as well as due to his declining health. When the confederate government proved incapable of properly handling internal affairs, and the current Constitution was drafted and voted into effect, George Washington became the first President of the new government. Hancock served as governor of Massachusetts until his Death in 1793. After Hancock's death, then acting governor Samuel Adams declared the day of Hancock's burial a state holiday, and threw for him a lavish funeral which was perhaps the most extravagant given to an American up to that time.
Image Source: wikipaintings
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