Connor Necaise¬ Prine Dual Credit US History 2 October 2015 John Hancock John Hancock, one of America’s more prominent founding fathers, played an important role in the American Revolution. Known for his generous donations and strong leadership, he quickly became part of the backbone of the Revolution before it even began. These qualities stretched farther than the war itself, though. His leadership and guidance were deciding factors in the foundation and implementation of the nation’s first government. John Hancock’s actions during the American Revolution go beyond what he did back in the 1700’s. His influence is and will continue to be a substantial part of the nation that the world knows today. John Hancock was born on January 23, 1737 …show more content…
After he graduated from the Boston Latin School when he was thirteen years old, John Hancock enrolled in Harvard College. He graduated four years later with a degree and was ready to face the world. He began learning more about his uncle’s business and soon began looking into a partnership with his uncle in the firm. He worked hard and eventually earned a fortune. He became an aristocrat and quickly got used to it. Hancock developed a love for expensive things like clothing and fine wines. His uncle’s health gradually began to decline. The less effort that his uncle put into the company, the more Hancock worked at it. Quickly enough, he essentially became the head of the company with little input from his uncle. Life would have been harder for him from the start if his uncle did not have such well-developed political relations. These allowed him to get contracts from the government during war time. These contracts especially came in handy during the French and Indian War. One of his biggest threats to a decline in his profits was The Molasses Act. This act made it expensive to trade molasses for things so his uncle taught him how to smuggle it in so they could avoid the taxes. This tax made Hancock angry at Great Britain and he began to like the idea of separation from England. Since the English government came out of the Seven Years War in such debt, he was just hoping that they didn’t come out with any new acts for other things, like sugar, or tea. Even though his business was making him a huge profit, he figured it could always be better so he decided to go live in England in 1760 and 1761. During these two years, he created more business by establishing relationships with the people of England to increase the amount of suppliers and customers. He started to miss home back in Boston so he left. After he moved back home, he found that this really helped