John Hancock: American Patriot - By: Felicity Grant

Before the American Revolution, Hancock was one of the wealthiest men in the Thirteen Colonies. John Hancock was born in Braintree, Massachusetts in 1737. He was orphaned as a child and adopted by his wealthy merchant uncle, Thomas Hancock. John Hancock attended Harvard College, now known as Harvard University, and graduated with a business degree. After his uncle died John Hancock inherited his uncle’s profitable shipping business and large fortune in 1764. Two years later, in 1766 John Hancock was elected to the Massachusetts legislature. Read more about John Hancock’s tenure in Massachusetts government in American History magazine.

As tensions between colonists and Great Britain increased in the 1760s, Hancock used his wealth to support the colonial cause. After British officials seized his sloop, the Liberty, in 1768 and charged him with smuggling, John Hancock became popular with anti-British groups because of his aggressive defense in subsequent lawsuits against him; the charges were eventually dropped but his popularity continued.

After the Boston Massacre of 1770, he was prominently identified with the colonial cause and worked closely with the revolutionary patriot Samuel Adams in the leadership of the Whig, also known as the Patriot, party in Massachusetts.

In 1774 John Hancock was elected as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress by the Provincial Congress to replace James Bowdoin. Hancock was subsequently and unanimously re-elected Hancock as the Second Continental Congress’ president. This high profile role gave Hancock enormous influence in Massachusetts and made him a target of the British government.

In an effort to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams of the impending arrival of the British soldiers, Patriot Joseph Warren sent messenger Paul Revere, in his now famous “Midnight Run,” to warn Hancock and Adams. Also famously, as Hancock and Adams made their escape, the first shots of the war were fired at Lexington and Concord.

After the American Revolutionary War, as president of the Continental Congress John Hancock was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence. Hancock served more than two years in the Continental Congress in Philadelphia and then returned to Massachusetts and was elected the first governor of the Commonwealth; he held the position from 1780 to 1785 and again in 1789 to 1793 until his death.

John Hancock’s legacy lives on today. Many places and things in the United States are named in his honor including United States Navy vessels, many counties and cities across the country, two famous office buildings in Boston and Chicago and a student center at Boston University, to name a few. Read more about modern landmarks named after John Hancock in Boston magazine, Chicago magazine and architecture magazines.

Of the 56 men that signed the Declaration of Independence, the first, largest and most famous signature is of John Hancock, President of the Second Continental Congress. His signature is so famous that the term “John Hancock” is used as a colloquial synonym for one’s signature. More important than his memorable signature are John Hancock’s role and contributions to the American Revolutionary War.

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Felicity Grant is a freelance writer in Atlanta.