John Hancock was an American politician and revolutionary. He was born in 1737 at Massachusetts and died in 1793. He was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature from 1766 to 1772. It was his ship, the Liberty, which caused a riot when seized by the royal customs officials for an alleged evasion of the laws, and he was one of the commissioners who demanded the removal of the British troops after the Boston massacre. In 1774 he was elected to the Provincial Congress at Concord, Massachusetts and together with Samuel Adams was exempted from pardon in Governor Gage's proclamation of 1775. He represented Massachusetts in the Continental Congress from 1775 to 1780 and from 1785 to 1786, being chosen president from 1775 to 1777 and was a signer of the American declaration of Independence, his name standing first upon that document. In 1776 he was commissioned major-general of the Massachusetts militia, and in 1780 commanded the State troops in the expedition against Rhode Island. He was a delegate to the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1780, and was a Governor of the State from 1780 to 1785 and from 1787 to 1792, and in the Presidential election of 1789 received four electoral votes. Research John Hancock
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