#foundingfather

Dear Reader I recently saw the musical Hamilton and naturally, I’m chockablock with opinions. I had, of course, heard of Hamilton long before Lin Manuel Miranda’s brainchild exploded onto the scene in 2015 (I mean Hamilton is on the $10 bill after all). My first real introduction to Alexander Hamilton was in my eighth-grade U.S. history class. In the discussion of the Revolutionary War, our…

🚀Celebrating American heritage on this day on April13: Thomas Jefferson’s birth, Apollo 13’s crisis, and Tiger Woods’ historic Masters win! 🇺🇸✍️🏌️‍♂️

Happy 285th Birthday to John Hancock

We all know John Hancock. His was the largest signature on the Declaration of Independence.  It was said that when He signed it, he joked that he made it so large that the King would not have to put his glasses on to see it.

 Hancock signed these two important pieces of the American Founding:

The United States Declaration of Independence, which was the pronouncement adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 4, 1776.  The Declaration explains why the Thirteen Colonies were at war with the Kingdom of Great Britain because they regarded themselves as thirteen independent sovereign states, no longer under British rule.

The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was an agreement among the 13 original states of the United States of America that served as its first frame of government. It was approved after much debate (between July 1776 and November 1777) by the Second Continental Congress on November 15, 1777 and sent to the states for ratification.

Hancock was recognized as one of the richest men in the 13 original colonies with much of that wealth coming from his shipping business.  After the Boston Massacre of 1770, he found himself at odds with the British ruling over the colony of Massachusetts.  In December of 1774, he was selected to be a delegate to the second continental congress, where he was elected President in 1775.  In a situation not unlike our own election last year, the choice was between a firebrand and the established moderating force of John Hancock.  

Hancock served in Congress through some of the darkest days of the Revolutionary War. The British drove Washington from New York and New Jersey in 1776, which prompted Congress to flee to Baltimore.  Hancock and Congress returned to Philadelphia in March 1777 but were compelled to flee six months later when the British occupied Philadelphia.  Hancock wrote innumerable letters to colonial officials, raising money, supplies, and troops for Washington's army as well as chairing the Marine Committee and took pride in helping to create a small fleet of American frigates, including the USS Hancock, which was named in his honor.

After having served the Continental Congress until 1778, Hancock returned back to Boston and involved himself in Massachusetts politics, finally passing away in 1793.  Acting Governor Samuel Adams declared his funeral day as a state day of honor.

John Hancock – January 23, 1737 to October 8, 1793

QUOTES

“Let this sad tale of death never be told without a tear: let every parent tell the shameful story to his listening children, till tears of pity glisten in their eyes, or boiling passion shakes their tender frames.”

“Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual! Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us.”