John Hancock Term Papers

Madison Rittenberry

Mrs. Richards

8th REACH –02

December 09, 2016

John Hancock

In 1765 John Hancock entered to local politics when he was elected for Boston selectman. He won the election to the Massachusetts colonial legislature. Around this time the British Parliament began imposing a series of regulatory measures , including tax laws , to gain further control over its 13 American colonies.

John Hancock was born on January 23rd, 1737 , in Braintree of Massachusetts. He was an only child . When Hancock was just a young boy his parents pasted away , and had to move in with his wealthy uncle in Lexington. After, graduating from Harvard college in 1754, Hancock went to work for his uncle. When his uncle pasted away Hancock

The couple had two children , a boy and a girl , neither of whom survived to adulthood. So, when Hancock pasted away his nephew inherited his lucrative import-export business and became one of the richest men in New England.

Before, Hancock was a leader in American Revolutionary War he was the president of Massachusetts. He presided over the debates on independence.He was president until October 19th 1777Hancock was reelected for president in 1785.He was president of the Second Continental Congress from 1775 to 1777, when the Declaration of Independence was adopted and the United States was born. From 1780 to 1785, Hancock was the first governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He was reelected in 1787 and served until his death in 1793.

Other men who had similarly large amounts of money tended to favor Great Britain and were called loyalists. Not John Hancock. He had maintained his friendship with John and Sam Adams, the latter of whom was making quite a noise about America cutting free from Great Britain and going it alone.One of Great Britain's responses to its success in what Americans call the French and Indian War was to institute a new series of taxes on the American colonists. America, Great Britain reasoned, was protected by British troops and so they should bear much of the burden of repaying the debts racked up during the war. The American colonists, on the other

The tax called for a special fee to be paid on all public and legal documents. As the owner of a huge shipping business, Hancock had to sign lots of documents every day. The new tax cost him lots of money. He wasn't happy about it and said so, in public, many times. A group of angry people who got together to discuss how to fight back against what they saw as "taxation without representation ." The British government eventually repealed the Stamped Act , but they soon replaced it something even hasher measures.

One of Hancock's own ships, the Liberty, was seized by British authorities, who thought it might contain smuggled goods. Hancock was so outraged that he stood by while a group of angry citizens fought back against the officers responsible for the boat's seizure. ("Ironically, Hancock was indeed involved in smuggling, of glass, lead, paper, and tea", according to David White.) Not too long after, in response to the new Tea Act, Hancock publicly boycotted tea from the British East India Company and played a behind-the-scenes role in the Boston Tea