John Hancock

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John Hancock

Portret de John Singleton Copley, circa 1765, detaliu, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
Termen în funcţie -	25 octombrie 1780  – 29 ianuarie 1785 (primul) – 30 mai 1787  – 8 octombrie 1793 (al doilea)
Predecesor -	nimeni
Succesor -
Data naşterii -	23 ianuarie 1737 Quincy, Massachusetts
Data decesului -	8 octombrie 1793 Quincy, Massachusetts
Partid politic -
Soţie/Soţ -	Dorothy Quincy

John Hancock (n. 12 ianuarie 1737, Quincy, Massachusetts  – d. 8 octombrie 1793) a fost un comerciant, om de stat şi unul dintre cei mai proeminenţi patrioţi ai Revoluţiei americane. Hancock a servit în calitate de om de stat în funcţiile de primul preşedinte al celui de-al doilea Congres Continental, respectiv ca întâiul guvernator al statului Massachusetts, a cărui denumire oficială este Commonwealth of Massachusetts, sau Statul (liber) asociat Massachusetts.

Semnatar Articolele Confederaţiei, John Hancock a devenit foarte cunoscut pentru semnătura sa extrem de lizibilă şi stilistic aparte de pe Declaraţia de Independenţă a Statelor Unite ale Americii, pentru care a devenit un nume de marcă în istoriografia americană, astfel încât John Hancock a devenit în decursul timpului, un fel de sinonim pentru semnătura de pe un act oficial.

Before the American Revolution, Hancock was one of the wealthiest men in the Thirteen Colonies, having inherited a profitable shipping business from his uncle. Hancock began his political career in Boston as a protégé of Samuel Adams, an influential local politician, though the two men would later become estranged. As tensions between colonists and Great Britain increased in the 1760s, Hancock used his wealth to support the colonial cause. He became very popular in Massachusetts, especially after British officials seized his sloop Liberty in 1768 and charged him with smuggling. Although the charges against Hancock were eventually dropped, he has often been described as a smuggler in historical accounts, but the accuracy of this characterization has been questioned.

Hancock was one of Boston's leaders during the crisis that led to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War in 1775. He served more than two years in the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, and as president of Congress was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence. Hancock returned to Massachusetts and was elected as governor of the Commonwealth for most of his remaining years. He used his influence to ensure that Massachusetts ratified the United States Constitution in 1788.

Hancock has often been regarded as an enigma. He was a wealthy aristocrat who was popular with the general public but disliked by many of his peers. While the Massachusetts electorate saw Hancock as a generous and steadfast patriot, and consistently voted him into office in landslide victories, some of his fellow politicians considered him a vain and shallow mediocrity. Although a Founding Father of the United States, he was not an important writer, political theorist, or military leader. Hancock's reputation among historians has sometimes been very poor, but he has often been considered an effective politician who ably used his wealth and prestige to promote the American Revolution.

[modifică] Viaţă timpurie

[modifică] Perioada ascuţirii conflictelor imperiale

[modifică] Criza Townshend Acts

[modifică] Cazul Liberty

Portrait of Hancock by John Singleton Copley, c. 1765

[modifică] Masacrul Tea Party

Paul Revere's 1768 engraving of British troops arriving in Boston was reprinted throughout the colonies.^[1]

This portrait of Hancock was published in England in 1775.^[2]

[modifică] Începutul Revoluţiei americane

[modifică] Preşedintele Congresului Continental

Dorothy Quincy, by John Singleton Copley, c. 1772

[modifică] Semnarea Declaraţie de Independenţă

Hancock's signature as it appears on the engrossed copy of the Declaration of Independence

[modifică] Reîntoarcerea în Massachusetts

In John Trumbull's famous painting The Declaration of Independence, Hancock, as presiding officer, is seated on the right as the drafting committee presents their work.

After much delay, the new Massachusetts Constitution finally went into effect in October 1780. To no one's surprise, Hancock was elected Governor of Massachusetts in a landslide, winning over 90% of the vote.^[3] He governed Massachusetts through the end of the Revolutionary War and into an economically troubled postwar period. Hancock took a hands-off approach to governing, avoiding controversial issues as much as possible. According to William Fowler, Hancock "never really led" and "never used his strength to deal with the critical issues confronting the commonwealth".^[4]

[modifică] Anii târzii

Hancock's memorial in Boston's Granary Burying Ground, erected in 1896.^[5]

[modifică] Legacy

Hancock's famous signature on the stern of the destroyer USS John Hancock

[modifică] Note

[modifică] Referinţe

• Adams, James Truslow. "Portrait of an Empty Barrel". Harpers Magazine 161 (September 1930), 425–34.
• Alden, John R. "Why the March to Concord?" The American Historical Review 49 (1944), 446–54.
• Allan, Herbert S. John Hancock: Patriot in Purple. New York: Macmillan, 1948.
• Boyd, Julian P. "The Declaration of Independence: The Mystery of the Lost Original". Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 100, number 4 (October 1976) , 438–67. Available online from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
• Brown, Richard D. Revolutionary Politics in Massachusetts: The Boston Committee of Correspondence and the Towns, 1772–1774. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1970. ISBN 0-393-008-10-X.
• Brown, Robert E. Middle-Class Democracy and the Revolution in Massachusetts, 1691–1789. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1955.
• Dickerson, O. M. "John Hancock: Notorious Smuggler or Near Victim of British Revenue Racketeers?" The Mississippi Valley Historical Review 32, no. 4 (March 1946), 517–40. This article was later incorporated into Dickerson's The Navigation Acts and the American Revolution (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1951).
• Fischer, David Hackett. Paul Revere's Ride. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. ISBN 0-19-508847-6.
• Fowler, William M., Jr. The Baron of Beacon Hill: A Biography of John Hancock. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1980. ISBN 0-395-27619-5.
• ———. Samuel Adams: Radical Puritan. New York: Longman, 1997. ISBN 0-673-99293-4.
• Gannett, Henry. The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. 2nd ed. Baltimore: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1973. ISBN 0806305444.
• Nobles, Gregory. "Yet the Old Republicans Still Persevere: Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and the Crisis of Popular Leadership in Revolutionary Massachusetts, 1775–90" in Ronald Hoffman and Peter J. Albert, eds., The Transforming Hand of Revolution: Reconsidering the American Revolution as a Social Movement. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1995, 258–85.
• Proctor, Donald J. "John Hancock: New Soundings on an Old Barrel". The Journal of American History 64, no. 3 (December 1977), 652–77.
• Reid, John Phillip. In a Rebellious Spirit: The Argument of Facts, the Liberty Riot, and the Coming of the American Revolution. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1979. ISBN 0-271-00202-6.
• Tyler, John W. Smugglers & Patriots: Boston Merchants and the Advent of the American Revolution. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1986. ISBN 0-930350-76-6.
• Wroth, L. Kinvin and Hiller B. Zobel, eds. Legal Papers of John Adams, volume 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1965.
• Unger, Harlow Giles. John Hancock: Merchant King and American Patriot. New York: Wiley & Sons, 2000. ISBN 0-471-33209-7.

[modifică] Bibliografie suplimentară

• Baxter, William T. The House of Hancock: Business in Boston, 1724–1775. 1945. Reprint, New York: Russell & Russell, 1965. Deals primarily with Thomas Hancock's business career.
• Brandes, Paul D. John Hancock’s Life and Speeches: A Personalized Vision of the American Revolution, 1763–1793. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1996. ISBN 0810830760. Contains the full text of many speeches.
• Brown, Abram E. John Hancock, His Book. Boston, 1898. Mostly extracts from Hancock's letters.
• Sears, Lorenzo. John Hancock, The Picturesque Patriot. 1912. The first full biography of Hancock.
• Wolkins, George G. "The Seizure of John Hancock's Sloop Liberty". Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society 55 (1923), 239–84. Reprints the primary documents.

[modifică] Legături externe

• John Hancock la conexiunea Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

Format:Presidents of the Continental Congress Format:USDecOfIndSig

v • d • m Semnatarii Articolelor Confederaţiei (prima constituţie a Statelor Unite ale Americii) A. Adams • S. Adams • T. Adams • Banister • Bartlett • Carroll • Clingan • Collins • Dana • Dickinson • Drayton • Duane • Duer • Ellery • Gerry • Hancock • Hanson • Harnett • Harvie • Heyward • Holten • Hosmer • Huntington • Hutson • Langworthy • Laurens • F. Lee • R. Lee • Lewis • Lovell • Marchant • Mathews • McKean • G. Morris • R. Morris • Penn • Reed • Roberdeau • Scudder • Sherman • Smith • Telfair • Van Dyke • Walton • Wentworth • Williams • Witherspoon • Wolcott •

Format:Governors of Massachusetts