John Hancock

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John Hancock signature

John Hancock (born January 12, 1736 jul. / January 23,  1737 greg. In Braintree , Province of Massachusetts Bay , †  October 8, 1793 in Quincy , Massachusetts) was an American merchant and one of the political leaders of the Thirteen Colonies in American war of independence against the British motherland . He was the third president of the Continental Congress and a co-signer of the Declaration of Independence .

Hancock inherited a Boston trading house from his uncle and increased his fortune. This led to a confrontation with the British customs officials who confiscated his sloop . In 1762 he was on a business trip in Québec at Marchants Lodge No. 277 accepted as a Freemason . In 1773 he was one of the organizers of the Boston Tea Party and was a member of the Sons of Liberty .

John Hancock held the presidency of the Continental Congress from May 24, 1775 to October 30, 1777 . On June 19, 1775 Hancock appointed George Washington to the commander in chief of the Continental Army . In 1780 he was one of the first members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . Hancock was Governor of Massachusetts from 1780 to 1785 and from 1787 to 1793 . He died during his second term and was buried at the Old Granary Burying Ground in Boston.

In his capacity as President of the Continental Congress, John Hancock was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The striking and at 13 cm - extremely large signature on the document - compared to all other signatories - has made the name John Hancock a synonym for signature in American English - analogous to the German Friedrich Wilhelm . This can be seen, for example, in the typical request “ Please, put your John Hancock here! " ("Please sign here!").

Honors and "afterlife"

Numerous streets and buildings in the USA are named after John Hancock , including the John Hancock Center in Chicago and the John Hancock Tower in Boston. The US Navy has already named several ships after him u. a. the USS Hancock (CV-19) , an aircraft carrier of Essex-class and the destroyer the Spruance class USS John Hancock (DD-981) carrying the signature as a special Hancock at the stern.

Web links

Commons : John Hancock  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ William R. Denslow, Harry S. Truman: 10,000 Famous Freemasons from A to J . ISBN 1-4179-7578-4 .
  2. ↑ Tony Hargis: 10 American Slang Terms and Phrases That Confuse Brits . BBC America (website), September 19, 2014
  3. ^ Brion McClanahan: The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers . Regnery Publishing, 2009, ISBN 9781596985933 , p. 239
personal data
SURNAME Hancock, John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American businessman and politician
DATE OF BIRTH January 23, 1737
PLACE OF BIRTH Braintree , Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH October 8, 1793
Place of death Quincy , Massachusetts