Who Was John Hancock?
The apparent one-hit wonder of the U.S. Founding Fathers, John Hancock is largely known today solely for inscribing the first and largest signature at the bottom the Declaration of Independence — an act that resulted in his name becoming a synonym for the legally identifying scribbles we apply to checks and other important forms today.
It may seem curious that Hancock’s name stands front and center among the signatures on this most cherished document of American history, ahead of far more famous founders such as Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, or Benjamin Franklin. Yet Hancock was very much a leading man of his time. His reputation rendered him worthy of the handwritten flourish that placed him first among the luminaries who called for independence on July 4, 1776, even if his memory has all but vanished beyond the contours of that famous signature.
Rise to Wealth and Prominence
As described in Brooke Barbier’s biography King Hancock, John Hancock was born on January 23, 1737, in Braintree, Massachusetts, the son and grandson of Harvard College-groomed ministers (also both named John). Hancock likely would have headed down a similar career path, but his life took a sharp turn after his father died in 1744, and he was sent to live with his wealthy uncle, Thomas, in the large port city of Boston.
A largely mediocre student — although he proved adept at penmanship — Hancock went to work for his uncle’s import-export business after graduating from Harvard in 1754. He became a partner after a stint overseas in London in the early 1760s, and then inherited the firm following Thomas’ death in 1764. As befitting a man who then ranked among the wealthiest in Boston, Hancock was named a city selectman in 1765, before earning election to the Massachusetts House of Representatives the following year.
His rising social and political clout came at a time of increasing tensions toward the British Parliament, with many Bostonians frustrated by the taxes imposed by the Sugar Act of 1764 and the Stamp Act of 1765. A merchant with strong business ties to London, Hancock did not share the rebellious viewpoints harbored by local firebrands such as Samuel Adams and James Otis. Nevertheless, he joined a network of merchants who agreed to stop importing British goods as long as the Stamp Act remained in effect, an endeavor that proved successful with the act’s repeal in 1766.
Hancock’s shift toward resistance leader continued following a new round of import duties with the passage of the Townshend Acts in 1767. Drawing suspicions of smuggling from the local customs board, Hancock was celebrated for ejecting a pair of prying customs officials from one of the ships. Another of his vessels was seized two months later, and he was arrested in the fall of 1768 for smuggling, before getting the charges dropped the following spring with the help of lawyer and childhood friend John Adams.
Meanwhile, Hancock was among the group of assemblymen who helped draft the widely distributed “Circular Letter” that argued against the Townshend Acts, and he was also among the majority that voted to reject British demands to retract the letter. Two years later, following the violence of the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770, Hancock chaired a committee that demanded the removal of British soldiers from Boston, and he agreed to oversee their safe and orderly withdrawal via the harbor.
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Boston’s Leading Citizen
Although he took a step back from politics following the partial repeal of the Townshend Acts in 1770, Hancock again found himself at the center of a growing storm with the passage of the Tea Act in May 1773. After moderating committees that sought to block the latest unpopular tax, he endorsed — and may even have been a primary instigator of — the December 1773 destruction of cargo that became known as the Boston Tea Party.
After Parliament responded in early 1774 with the punitive Coercive Acts, which led to the shutdown of the port of Boston and elimination of the state assembly, the assembly members reorganized in October as the Provincial Congress, the first autonomous government in the colonies. Hancock was subsequently elected its president, making him the most powerful colonist in Massachusetts.
This also made him a target of increasingly agitated British authorities. As part of his famous midnight ride on April 18, 1775, Paul Revere made a beeline to Lexington, Massachusetts, which was hosting the Provincial Congress, to warn Hancock and Sam Adams that they were in danger of being captured. The two men slipped out of town, hours before the opening shots of the American Revolution.
President of the Continental Congress
A few weeks later, Hancock led a procession of carriages to Philadelphia as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, receiving a rousing reception from colonists along the way. He was also warmly welcomed by the other delegates; after Continental Congress President Peyton Randolph was recalled to the Virginia Assembly, Hancock was deemed a suitable replacement by both the conservatives who valued his business acumen and the radicals who admired his track record of resistance. According to John Adams, Hancock also sought the position of commander in chief of the Continental Army, and was distressed when the job instead went to George Washington.
As president, Hancock mainly moderated congressional meetings and occasionally joined in the debates. His moderate stances infuriated John Adams and Samuel Adams, who pushed for independence from Britain, although Hancock found it harder to advocate for compromise after Parliament passed the Prohibitory Act in December 1775, cutting off all British trade with the colonies. By the summer of 1776, Hancock was on board with the momentum that was carrying the delegates toward declaring independence.
As president of the Continental Congress, Hancock was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence on August 2, 1776. According to popular legend, after he applied his famous signature to the engrossed copy of the document, he said something along the lines of, "Let King George read that without spectacles!" While that story is apocryphal, it is true that Hancock and Continental Congress Secretary Charles Thomson were the only two people to have their names affixed to the original printed version of the document, initially leaving them as the two people liable for treason had the quest for independence been squashed by the British. Hancock's large and bold signature was likely deliberate — a signal of his courage and resolve in affixing his name to the rebellious document.
Although Hancock gamely pored through the voluminous congressional paperwork and worked to raise money and troops for the Revolution, he eventually tired of the long hours required of the job, worn down by his recurring battles with gout, and he requested a leave of absence in October 1777. He briefly returned to the Continental Congress the following summer, but left again after it became clear that the new president, Henry Laurens of South Carolina, had no intention of relinquishing the job.
Massachusetts Governor and U.S. Constitution Proponent
In 1780, Hancock easily defeated fellow merchant James Bowdoin to become the first nonroyal governor of Massachusetts. A beloved figure throughout the state for his years of service and acts of charity, the governor nevertheless saw his popularity tested as citizens struggled to pay the high taxes to settle the Revolutionary War debts. A sympathetic Hancock neglected to crack down on tax collecting and dragged his feet on signing bills that would add to the financial burden of the people. The stresses of the job again taking a toll on his health, he stepped down from the position in 1785.
After Bowdoin took over as governor in 1786 and the discord fomented into Shay's Rebellion, Hancock refused to join the group of wealthy merchants who funded an army to put down the uprising. Instead, after being reelected governor in 1787, he accepted a salary cut and pardoned all but two of the most egregious participants in the rebellion.
Hancock enjoyed one more moment in the limelight as the states weighed in on whether to approve the U.S. Constitution. Named president of the Massachusetts Ratifying Convention in January 1788, Hancock missed the first three weeks due to his poor health before making a dramatic entrance, carried by servants, to deliver a speech in favor of ratifying the Constitution with amendments. He delivered another stirring speech a few days later, urging unity no matter the outcome, before a final vote gave the pro-ratification side a narrow victory.
Said to have been interested in either the presidency or the vice presidency, Hancock lost out to Washington for the former role and to fellow Massachusettsan John Adams for the latter. Regardless, he remained an esteemed figure in his home state, and even found common ground with ally-turned-critic-turned-ally Samuel Adams over their shared distrust of federal government overreach. Holding office until his death on October 8, 1793, Hancock was honored with a funeral procession that drew a massive turnout of mourners and shut down his adopted home city of Boston for the day.
Ultimately, Hancock never logged the military service that made Washington a national hero and the first president, and he also lacked the intellectual gifts and ideological passions that enabled John Adams and Jefferson to succeed Washington and cement their legacies. Nevertheless, he was an accomplished businessman and battle-tested leader who left his fingerprints all over Revolution-era Massachusetts, making it fitting that he's uniquely remembered for another deft touch of finger work.
