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John Hancock was an accomplished and wealthy man of his time. He was born in Braintree, which is present day Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1737. Orphaned at an early age, Hancock was adopted and raised by his uncle, Thomas Hancock. When Hancock was 28, he inherited his uncle’s great wealth.
Hancock graduated from Boston Latin School and Harvard. He became a politician and merchant because of encouragement from Samuel Adams.
In 1768 , Hancock smuggled a load of wine ashore on his vessel, the Liberty. Mobs rioted because they claimed that he had violated and disobeyed regulations. The vessel was turned into a coast guard vessel and was burned in Newport, Rhode Island.
Hancock obviously opposed the British for business and other reasons. In fact, he was part of the committee that went to the governor demanding that the British leave the city.
Later that next year he was elected to the state legislature. In 1774 he became president of the state legislature. The following year he became a delegate at the Second Continental Congress and became president of that assembly also. The following year, in 1776, Congress produced the Declaration of Independence, in which John Hancock was the first to sign. He became well known because of his large signature. After he finished signing it, he said, "There, I guess King George will be able to read that."
A few years after the Declaration, he became Massachusetts’ first elected governor and held that position for the rest of his life.
All in all, John Hancock was a smart and patriotic man who contributed greatly to this country’s history.
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