[113][116], Gage received a letter from Lord Dartmouth on April 14, 1775, advising him "to arrest the principal actors and abettors in the Provincial Congress whose proceedings appear in every light to be acts of treason and rebellion". It was named for the John Hancock insurance company, which was named for the Massachusetts statesman. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2000. His wealth and social standing inspired the confidence of moderate delegates, while his association with Boston radicals made him acceptable to other radicals. [134] In the early 20th century, historian James Truslow Adams wrote that the incident initiated a lifelong estrangement between Hancock and Washington, but some subsequent historians have expressed doubt that the incident, or the estrangement, ever occurred. [87][88], After Parliament partially repealed the Townshend duties in 1770, Boston's boycott of British goods ended. [155][156], Hancock was president of Congress when the Declaration of Independence was adopted and signed. He suffered the misfortune of being known to later generations almost entirely through the judgments of his detractors, Tory and Whig. And much to the frustration of the British authorities, when seizures did happen local merchants were often able to use sympathetic provincial courts to reclaim confiscated goods and have their cases dismissed. [86][85] His reelection to the Massachusetts House in May was nearly unanimous. [79] Biographer William Fowler concluded that while Hancock was probably engaged in some smuggling, most of his business was legitimate, and his later reputation as the "king of the colonial smugglers" is a myth without foundation. Hancock’s revolutionary activities made him a target for British authorities. After the revolutionary war, drafting of the United States Declaration of Independence was initiated by the Second Continental Congress. As president, Hancock may have signed the document that was sent to the printer John Dunlap, but this is uncertain because that document is lost, perhaps destroyed in the printing process. https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/john-hancock. [137][138], When Congress recessed on August 1, 1775, Hancock took the opportunity to wed his fiancée, Dorothy "Dolly" Quincy. The letter was of 13 copies sent in July 1776 to the 13 original colonies, each accompanied by a freshly-printed copy of the Declaration of Independence. January 12, 1736] – October 8, 1793) was an American merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution. It was a fiasco: French Admiral d'Estaing abandoned the operation, after which Hancock's militia mostly deserted Sullivan's Continentals. His house on Beacon Hill was torn down in 1863 after both the city of Boston and the Massachusetts legislature decided against maintaining it. After resigning as head of the Continental Congress in 1777, Hancock had his chance for military glory in 1778, when he led some 5,000 Massachusetts soldiers in an attempt to recapture Newport, Rhode Island, from the British. The couple was married on August 28 in Fairfield, Connecticut. He is primarily remembered by Americans for his large, flamboyant signature on the Declaration, so much so that "John Hancock" became, in the United States, an informal synonym for signature. Today we might say, “Take that, Johnny Boy. [101] Hancock and others tried to force the resignation of the agents who had been appointed to receive the tea shipments. [157] According to legend, Hancock signed his name largely and clearly so that King George could read it without his spectacles, but the story is apocryphal and originated years later. [78] If Hancock was a smuggler, no documentation of this has been found. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997. The following year, he won election to the Massachusetts colonial legislature. John Hancock was born on January 23 (or January 12, according to the calendar in use at the time), 1737, in Braintree (present-day Quincy), Massachusetts.
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