John Hancock Research Paper

John Hancock was born on January 23, 1737, Braintree, Massachusetts. Son of Reverend John Hancock and Mary Hawke Thaxter. John Hancock's father died when he was only 7 years old, his mother took him and his siblings to live with their uncle. When Hancock was 13 years old he was adopted by his wealthy uncle and aunt Thomas and Lydia. Thomas was a wealthy merchant who owned a highly successful shipping business.
Once John Hancock moved to live with his uncle he received every possible advantage. He attended Boston Latin School later he also attended another writing school. John attended Harvard and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Classical Studies in 1754. He spent the next years watching and learning from his uncle’s business. In 1760, John was sent to London, where he met the merchants with whom his uncle did business. Four years later Thomas Hancock died, so John inherited the House of Hancock which imported and exported whale oil, fish, and rum.
John Hancock was an 18th century U.S.
merchant, he also was president of the first and the second Continental Congress and the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence. He was also a major figure in rebellion against the British. He was the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence and the first governor of Massachusetts. In the mid-1760s, he won different political positions, one was managing local affairs in Boston. Hancock commandeered public acts of protest like the boycotts against the Stamp Act and Townshend duties. To avoid the British taxation, Hancock smuggled goods aboard his vessels. In 1768, Hancock's ship the Liberty was taken ahold of by British authorities who stated that he hadn't paid the taxes on his imports. Hancock was given a large fine and taken to court.

In 1770, after the Boston Massacre, Hancock took over the committee that demanded the removal of British forces.
After a period of improving relations, Boston became a violent place once again with the Tea Act of 1773, Hancock organized protests along with Samuel Adams. Then in 1776 Hancock was the first person to sing the declaration of independence.

The Congress met in May, 1775, Hancock was appointed congress president. Later in 1775, Hancock got married to Dorothy Quincy, the daughter of a Boston merchant and magistrate. The couple had two children, a boy and a girl, neither of them survived to adulthood.

Hancock resigned as president of the Continental Congress in 1777, since he had health issues. In 1788 Hancock won the presidency of his state’s convention, whose purpose was to ratify the U.S. Constitution. Hancock continued to govern Massachusetts. John Hancock was only 57 years old, but gout and other complications had turned him into a near-invalid, he died in
1793.