John Hancock
1737-1793

Hancock, whose bold signature first strikes the eye in glancing over that charter of American freedom, was, perhaps, all things considered, one of the most remarkable men of the age. He put most risk in the sanguinary struggle for American freedom, so far as fortune and its appearance were concerned, for he was then the richest man in the country. He inherited the business of a millionaire uncle, and was the Abbott Lawrence of his day. When he was first elected to the Provincial Legislature, Adams said to a friend: "Boston has done a wise thing to-day--she's made that young man's fortune her own." And this was literally fulfilled, for he devoted it all to the public use. The contrast between Hancock and Adams was very great. Adams was quite poor, and held in great contempt the style and show of fortune--Hancock kept a magnificent equipage, such as was then unknown in America. His apparel was embroidered with gold and silver--he drove his six beautiful bays--he was exceedingly fond of dancing, music, routes, parties, rich wines, dinners, and all that kind of thing called elegant pleasures.

How he estimated the goods of fortune and its concomitants, is illustrated by the following anecdote:--"During the siege of Boston, Gen. Washington consulted Congress as to the propriety of bombarding the town. Hancock was President, and after the reading of Washington's letter, a motion was made to go into committee if the whole to enable Mr. Hancock to give his opinion, as he was deeply interested--all his property being in houses and real estate. He left the chair, and addressed the chairman as follows: "It is true, sir, that nearly all I have in the world is in the town of Boston, but if the expulsion of the British troops and the liberty of my country demand that they be burned to ashes, issue the order, AND LET THE CANNON BLAZE AWAY!"

In the earlier stages of John Hancock's existence--who had been supplied with a collegiate education at Harvard College--at the age of seventeen he was taken under the guardianship of a pious uncle, who made him a clerk in his counting-room, where he soon became acquainted with the various routine of commercial business. His uncle was so well pleased with the rapid advancement and honest habits of his nephew, that in the year 1760 he entrusted him with a mission to England to transact some very important business. On that occasion young Hancock was present at the funeral rites of king George II., and also witnessed the ceremonies of investing his successor, George III., with the insignia of royalty. His stay in England won for him many warm friends, both in a social and business capacity. It was necessary, however, for him to make his visit of short duration, and he returned with much regret to Boston.

Soon after his arrival home his uncle was taken ill and died, leaving him at the age of twenty-six the sole possessor of his princely fortune--the largest, perhaps, of any man in the Province of Massachusetts. Possessed of an extraordinary mind, and deeply conversant with political science, he soon after this solemn event, abandoned commercial enterprises and business pursuits of all kinds, and devoted himself to the politics of the day. In principle he was devotedly democratic, but liberal in his views. He was chosen a member of the Provincial Assembly from Boston in 1766, and was in consequence thrown into intercourse and acquaintanceship with such men as Samuel Adams, James Otis, and Thomas Cushing.

The inhabitants of this country had felt the oppressive exaction and tyranny of Great Britain several years before Mr. Hancock took an active part in political matters, and feelings of resistance were already aroused. He came upon the theatre of public life, therefore, under circumstances sufficiently extraordinary and exciting to fill his ardent youthful mind with strong sentiments of patriotism. It is said that young Hancock imbibed the principles of liberty from his infancy, and hence such feelings were as familiar to him as "household words." When the exigencies of time demanded exhibitions of such feelings and sentiments as Mr. Hancock possessed, no patriot was readier or more earnest in the manifestation. the obnoxious measures adopted by Parliament toward the Colonies, which succeeded the "Stamp Act," Mr. Hancock regarded as the ultima thule of tyranny, and resolved not to submit to them. He was at that time a member of the Provincial Legislature, and was instrumental in inducing his colleagues to unite with him against them. The proposition of non-importation measures was first made by him, and he advocated the necessity of them with such ardor that they were adopted by the other Colonies.

These measures produced a powerful effect upon the home government, and caused it to enforce more rigidly than ever her tyrannous exactions. At length open resistance became universal, and Hancock's name was conspicuously prominent in the commotions that agitated Boston for more than eight years. History informs us that one of the earliest acts of open resistance, was on the occasion of the seizure of the sloop Liberty, belonging to Mr. Hancock, by the Custom house officers, under the plea that she was loaded with goods contrary to the revenue laws. The people were greatly exasperated; they beat the officers with clubs, and obliged them to fly to Castle William, at the entrance of Boston Harbor, for safety. They also burned the Collector's boat, an committed other acts of violence. These transactions gave the royal governor an excuse he wished for to introduce British troops into the city. This measure excited the indignation of the people to the highest pitch, and almost daily quarrels took place in the streets between the citizens and the soldiers, which finally resulted in the death of three Americans, in March, 1770, by shots from soldiers' muskets-an event known as The Boston Massacre.

So popular a leader in the colonial rebellion had Hancock become, that offended royalty excluded him from the terms of the general pardon which Parliament made in 1775. Samuel Adams was also excluded as an arch-rebel. The night preceding the battle of Lexington, Hancock and Adams lodged together, in that village. An armed party was sent by Governor Gage to arrest them; and they narrowly escaped, for as the soldiers entered one door, they went through another.

During the commotion known as the "Tea Riot," Mr. Hancock was exceedingly active and bold; and on the anniversary of the "Boston Massacre," in March, 1774, he delivered a severe speech against the aggressive disposition of the British Government. The popularity of John Hancock had now become odious to the officers of the home government, for when he was, in 1767, elected a member of the Executive Council, the Governor rejected him.* In 1774 the Provincial Congress if Massachusetts unanimously elected him their President. The same year he was chosen delegate to the Continental Congress, and was re-elected to the same station in 1775. It was some time during the summer of that year, that Peyton Randolph vacated the Presidential chair of that body, and John Hancock was selected in his place.

*For some unknown reason, however, he was subsequently received into the Council. Governor Bernard had tried in vain to win him from the cause of the patriots. In 1767, before his election to the Council, he had complimented him with a Lieutenant's commission, but hancock, seeing clearly the nefarious design which it but half concealed, tore up the commission in the presence of the people.

This was a position of the most exalted character in the gift of the American people. In that office he put forth some of his most valuable labors--for he was acting in that position on the ever memorable 4th of July, 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was adopted, and the old "State House Bell" pealed forth liberty throughout the land, and to all inhabitants thereof." As President of that Congress he first signed that Declaration, and with his signature alone it first went forth to the world.

In consequence of ill health, Mr. Hancock resigned the office of President of Congress in 1777, with a view of passing the remainder of his life in the retirement of his domestic circle; but his countrymen regarded his public services too highly to allow him the pleasure, and he was, therefore, son afterward elected a member of the Convention to form a Constitution for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. His labors in that Convention were marked with his usual boldness, and upon him was first conferred the honor, under the instrument of their adoption, of being Governor of the Province, or State." This office he held for five consecutive years, by annual election. he declined the office for two years, but afterward accepted, and filled that position until his death, in 1793. He was Governor during the exciting period of the adoption of the Federal Constitution, and its final ratification by the several States; and his wisdom and firmness proved greatly salutary in restraining those lawless acts which a spirit of disaffection toward the general government had engendered in New England--particularly in Massachusetts and New Hampshire." John Hancock acted in many other official capacities and always with vigor and decision of character. But as years passed, he assumed the appearance of advanced age.

One who saw him in 1782, says that he had been repeatedly and severely afflicted with gout, probably owing in part to the custom of drinking punch--a common practice in high circles in those days. As recollected at that time, Hancock was nearly six feet in height and of thin person, stooping a little, and apparently enfeebled by disease. His manners were very gracious, of the old style, a dignified complaisance. His face had been very handsome. Dress was adapted quite as much to the ornamental as useful. Gentlemen wore wigs when abroad, and commonly caps when at home. At this time, about noon, Hancock was dressed in a red velvet cap, within which was one of fine linen. The later was turned up over the lower edge of the velvet one, two or three inches. He wore a blue damask gown lined with silk, a white satin embroidered waistcoat, black satin small-clothes, white silk stockings and red morocco slippers. It was a general practice in genteel families to have a tankard of punch made in the morning and placed in a cooler when the season required it. At this visit, Hancock took from the cooler standing on the hearth a full tankard, and drank first himself and then offered it to those present.

On one occasion, at a banquet, when Hancock was present, there were not less than fifty or sixty at table, but the host did not sit at meat with them. He ate at a little side-table, and sat on a wheel-chair, in which he wheeled himself about the general table to speak with his guests. This was because of his gout, of which he made a political as well as social excuse for doing as he pleased. On the occasion in question, when the guests were in the height of an animated conversation, and just as the cloth was withdrawn, they were interrupted by a tremendous crash. A servant, in removing a cut-glass epergne, which formed the central ornament of the table, let it fall, and it was dashed in a thousand pieces. An awkward silence fell upon the company, who hardly knew how to treat the accident, when Hancock relieved their embarrassment by cheerfully exclaiming, "James, break as much as you like, but don't make such a confounded noise about it!" And under the cover of the laugh this excited, the fragments were removed, and the talk went on as if nothing had happened. This, evidently, was the presence of mind of true good breeding. His apparel was sumptuously embroidered with gold, silver, lace and other decorations fashionable among men of fortune of that period. He wore a scarlet coat with ruffles on his sleeves, which soon became the prevailing fashion; and it is related by Dr. Nathan Jacques, the famous pedestrian of West Newbury, that he passed all the way from that place to Boston in one day, to procure cloth for a coat like that of John Hancock, and returned with it under his arm, on foot.

Such were the character, habits, and customs of this distinguished man. We have the biography of no greater political hero; and to his efforts, in a great degree, we owe the prosperity and happiness of our great and rapidly advancing country. He was married in 1773 to a Miss Quincy, a relative of the Adamses, by whom he had one son. This child, however, died at an early age; and, ripe for the tomb, with honors of an exalted character on his head and full of years, in October, 1793, John Hancock paid the debt of nature, and was laid calmly to rest among the graves of his fathers, leaving an example well worthy of emulation of young men of the rising generation.