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Hancock joined the resistance to the Stamp Act by participating in a boycott of British goods, which made him popular in Boston

One month later, while the British warship HMS Romney was in port, one of the tidesmen changed his story: he now claimed that he had been forcibly held on the Liberty while it had been illegally unloaded.[

Given the clandestine nature of smuggling, records are naturally scarce.[45] If Hancock was a smuggler, no documentation of this has been found. John W. Tyler identified 23 smugglers in his study of more than 400 merchants in revolutionary Boston, but found no written evidence that Hancock was one of them

In April 1772, Hutchinson approved Hancock's election as colonel of the Boston Cadets, a militia unit whose primary function was to provide a ceremonial escort for the governor and the General Court

Hancock was staying at this house in Lexington

On May 24, 1775, he was unanimously elected President of the Continental Congress, succeeding Peyton Randolph after Henry Middleton declined the nomination. Hancock was a good choice for president for several reasons.[84] He was experienced, having often presided over legislative bodies and town meetings in Massachusetts. His wealth and social standing inspired the confidence of moderate delegates, while his association with Boston radicals made him acceptable to other radicals

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

October 1777, after more than two years in Congress, President Hancock requested a leave of absence.[104

Dorothy Quincy

of the

Hancock gradually took over the House of Hancock as his uncle's health failed, becoming a full partner in January 1763.

After that time she lived at 4 Federal Street in Boston.

The couple had two children together, neither of whom lived to see their teenage years: Lydia Henchman Hancock, who died at about ten months, and John George Washington Hancock, who fell on the ice while skating at pond in Milton and died shortly after, aged nine, in 1787

When Hancock told her after the battle that she could not go back to her father in Boston, she retorted, "Recollect Mr. Hancock, that I am not under your control yet. I shall go to my father tomorrow."[5]

1st and 3rd First Lady of Massachusetts

1737-1793