Biography of John Hancock

John Hancock

Who is the man remembered for his signature on The Declaration of Independence? The man responsible for it all is John Hancock. In this paper you will learn about Hancock’s childhood, his participation in the Independence Movement, and lastly his final years.

John Hancock was born on January 23, 1737 to John Hancock and Mary (Hawke) Hancock. John grew up in Braintree, Massachusetts until he was seven years old. Unfortunately, his father died when he was seven and he was sent to live with his uncle and aunt. His Uncle Thomas and Aunt Lydia were a wealthy couple with no children of their own. This was one of the reasons that they were so willing to take him because they always wanted a child of their own.
Just like all of the other children in his town John went to school at Boston Latin School. After graduating high school John enrolled at Harvard University and received his bachelor’s degree in 1754. In school John became good friends with John Adams. John Adams was John Hancock’s uncle’s friend’s son so they would spend hours with each other doing whatever boys do.
John began his first job working for his Uncle’s business selling rum, whale oil, and fish during the French and Indian War. Thomas Hancock’s health was becoming poor so he appointed John to be his new assistant. After working with his uncle for a few months Thomas pass away, leaving the business to John. He was also given three household slaves and thousands of acres of land (slaves were released soon after according to the will). John soon became a member of the Masonic Lodge of St. Andrew. That is where he began meeting the men who in the future would share the same dream of freedom from England.

Now in Britain they were very poor after the Seven Years War and one of their few choices was to put tax on the everyday items such as tea, coffee, stamps, sugar, and several others. John and the other men believed that since they were not represented in parliament they could not be liable for these taxes. However, in the early days of these disputes the men did not criticize the tax for constitutional reasons, but for economic instead. He too was angered with the taxing and quit buying any (taxed) good. John Hancock joined the Massachusetts House of Representatives in May 1766. The plan was to stop all taxing and to receive freedom from the king.
During the Liberty Affair John Hancock was having his sloop Liberty arrived in Boston Harbor with a shipment of Madeira wine. In the morning the custom officials came and checked the goods on the boat, but when they found only twenty-five pipes of wine they were angry for they believed he had shipped in the rest over night. John was furious when he found that the customs had told their head official that he had done such a thing. He put down two law suits against them. The first law suit was won by the customs who then took the ship and used it to ship goods until a mob of angry colonist burned it. The second law suit was made to explain that he did not secretly unload a second shipment, but the trial was dropped without explanation.
After many years of this on going struggle, the colonists were finally able to receive their freedom from the king. The Declaration of Independence was then created to state a common purpose and set political ideas. Fifty-six men were chosen from each of the thirteen colonies to make this document. The citizens of America were given democracy, government laws, clarified relationships with other nations, and a basic statement on political thought. John Hancock took part in this document by helping create the Declaration of Independence and signing it.

During John’s final years he resigned from being the governor of Massachusetts he was reelected into the Continental Congress. When elected to be president of the Congress declined because of his poor health. He was also given a chance to run for president of the United States, but his bad health kept him from even campaign. In the end though he knew he wanted George Washington to win and only received four editorial votes. On October 8, 1793 John Hancock died in his sleep.

In this paper you learned all about John Hancock’s childhood, participation in the Independence movement, and his final years. So, when ever you sign your name think back to John Hancock signing you the Declaration of Independence.

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