Person:John Hancock (19)

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

John Hancock ( – October 8, 1793) was an American Founding Father, merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution. He served as president of the Second Continental Congress and was the first and third Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He is remembered for his large and stylish signature on the United States Declaration of Independence, so much so that the term John Hancock or Hancock has become a nickname in the United States for one's signature. He also signed the Articles of Confederation, and used his influence to ensure that Massachusetts ratified the United States Constitution in 1788.

Before the American Revolution, Hancock was one of the wealthiest men in the Thirteen Colonies, having inherited a profitable mercantile business from his uncle. He began his political career in Boston as a protégé of Samuel Adams, an influential local politician, though the two men later became estranged. Hancock used his wealth to support the colonial cause as tensions increased between colonists and Great Britain in the 1760s. He became very popular in Massachusetts, especially after British officials seized his sloop Liberty in 1768 and charged him with smuggling. Those charges were eventually dropped; he has often been described as a smuggler in historical accounts, but the accuracy of this characterization has been questioned.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} John Hancock, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} John Hancock, in Colonial Collegians: Biographies of Those Who Attended American Colleges before the War for Independence. (Boston, Mass.: Massachusetts Historical Society & New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2005)
   Harvard: .
3. ↑ ^3.0 3.1 John Hancock, in Find A Grave.

Signers of U.S. Declaration of Independence

John Adams • Samuel Adams • Josiah Bartlett • Carter Braxton • Charles Carroll • Samuel Chase • Abraham Clark • George Clymer • William Ellery • William Floyd • Ben Franklin • Elbridge Gerry • Button Gwinnett • Lyman Hall • John Hancock • Benjamin Harrison • John Hart • Joseph Hewes • Thomas Heyward • William Hooper • Stephen Hopkins • Francis Hopkinson • Samuel Huntington • Thomas Jefferson • Francis Lightfoot Lee • Richard Henry Lee • Francis Lewis • Philip Livingston • Thomas Lynch • Thomas McKean • Arthur Middleton • Lewis Morris • Robert Morris • John Morton • Thomas Nelson, Jr. • William Paca • Robert Treat Paine • John Penn • George Read • Caesar Rodney • George Ross • Benjamin Rush • Edward Rutledge • Roger Sherman • James Smith • Richard Stockton • Thomas Stone • George Taylor • Matthew Thornton • George Walton • William Whipple • William Williams • James Wilson • John Witherspoon • Oliver Wolcott • George Wythe