John Hancock
John Hancock
I supposeall my readers have seen the Declaration of our Independence, with the signatures attached. John Hancock was the president of the convention that drew up that famous instrument, and was the first who signed it. Every one must have remarked the bold, strong, decided hand in which his name is written. That was a good way to do a great action—to do it firmly, and in such a manner as to show that there was no timidity of heart, no trembling of the hand, no wavering of purpose.
It is a good thing for all young Americans to read the lives and study the characters of the great men of our country; and it is my purpose frequently to place the biographies of such individuals in the pages of Merry’s Museum. I shall now give a brief sketch of John Hancock.
He was born at Braintree, in Massachusetts, in 1737, and inherited a large fortune from his uncle. He was educated at Cambridge college, and was elected a member of the assembly in 1766, and soon distinguished himself by a talent for business, and a zealous opposition to the oppressive acts of the British. In 1774, he was president of the provincial congress, and the year after was elected a member of the general congress, which met at Philadelphia. He was chosen president of that body, and in that capacity signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
His health declining the next year, he left that appointment; but he was elected, in 1788, the first governor of Massachusetts under the new constitution. He held that office for four years. In three years after, he was again elected governor, in which station he remained till his death, which took place in 1793, in the fifty-sixth year of his age.
Governor Hancock possessed talents that always adorned the several exalted stations to which he was elevated. Hewas one of the first and most conspicuous actors in the great drama of the Revolution, and gained, by his zealous devotion to his country, a rank among the most distinguished of her benefactors. In private life he was characterized by affability, urbanity, and distinguished liberality to the poor.