John Hancock
First to Sign, First to Invest in America's Independence
-
- USD 11.99
-
- USD 11.99
Publisher Description
A compelling, intimate portrait of John Hancock, going beyond the flamboyant signature to reveal the pivotal role that he had in the American Revolution
A contemporary of Samuel Adams, John Adams, George Washington, and the Marquis de Lafayette, Hancock had a list of contacts that read like a who’s who of the American Revolution. But shockingly little has been written about Hancock himself. John Hancock tells the story of a man who deserves far more credit for his contribution to the American Revolution than he previously received—and award-winning scholar Willard Sterne Randall is determined to give him his due at last.
Born into relatively modest means, Hancock was sent to live with his wealthy uncle and aunt as a child. The couple raised him as their own and prepared him to take over the family company. A remarkably successful businessman, Hancock got involved in politics in the mid-1760s. He quickly rose in the ranks, eventually serving as the president of the Continental Congress and the first governor of Massachusetts.
John Hancock details all of the major moments in the Revolution, from the Boston Tea Party to the battles of Lexington and Concord to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Hancock’s actions fundamentally altered each of these events—and ultimately the course of the United States—in ways never taught in the history books. Randall also dives into lesser-known parts of Hancock’s life with nuance and compassion, including his education and controversial work with Harvard; his long courtship and complicated marriage to Dorothy Quincy; and his close relationship and eventual bitter rivalry with Samuel Adams.
John Hancock enjoyed great popularity in Massachusetts during the Revolution, but he left behind few personal writings, making it hard to tell his story. Through extensive research, Randall aims to restore Hancock to his rightful place, celebrated for his achievements as one of our Founding Fathers at last.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This zippy biography from Randall (The Founders' Fortunes) resituates John Hancock as the forgotten impresario of the American Revolution. Hancock had a spartan early childhood followed by the extreme good fortune of being adopted by a wealthy merchant uncle. After becoming the richest man in Boston in his early 20s following his uncle's death, Hancock developed a complex relationship with money, reveling in personal ostentation (he rode around in a yellow carriage and developed gout from decadent eating) while spending lavishly on public works. He also chafed at British taxes along with other early revolutionaries John Adams, Samuel Adams, and Paul Revere, but his larger-than-life persona and—under the ever-fluctuating British tax system—not strictly legal import-export business made him the easiest target for British crackdowns. Beset on all sides (including by Sam Adams, who was disgusted by Hancock's profligacy), Hancock was remarkable, in Randall's telling, for persisting in putting himself and his massive fortune on the line, serving as president of the first Continental Congress and, for many months, as sole signer of the Declaration of Independence (hence why his name was writ so large). Randall also strikingly suggests that the reason Hancock is so overlooked in Revolutionary literature is that he makes rich people uncomfortable with how much he risked and gave away. It's a winning reassessment that will charm readers.
