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John Hancock (1737-1793)
A
merchant, public official, and first signer of the Declaration of
Independence, Hancock was born in Braintree, Massachusetts. When
he was a child John’s father died and he was subsequently raised
by his Uncle Thomas at his estate on nearby Beacon Hill and
eventually graduated from Harvard. After inheriting his uncle’s
mercantile firm in 1764 Hancock became the richest Bostonian of
his time.
As a businessman
Hancock was brought into the fray over the Stamp Act and other
British commercial policies. Fostering a spirit of defiance, he
named one of his newest ships Liberty to openly challenge the
trade regulations.
With an estimated 1,000 citizens
dependent upon his business, several riots erupted when the
Liberty was seized by customs officials for allegedly lacking to
declare all products on board for customs duties to be paid.
Soon thereafter,
with the support of Samuel Adams, Hancock was elected to a seat in
the Massachusetts House legislature. He was a delegate to both
Continental Congresses and, as President of the second, was the
first to boldly sign the Declaration of Independence, large enough
so that King George III could recognize Hancock’s signature
without the use of his reading glasses.
After the war he
helped draft the Massachusetts constitution and was elected the
state’s first governor. His political instincts led him to
abruptly resign as Governor in 1785, leaving newly minted Governor
James Bowdoin to deal with the brief but potent
“Shay’s Rebellion.” In 1787 he returned to the Governorship
and died on October 6, 1793 at the age of 56 while serving his
ninth yearly term as governor.
Jimmy’s
Tangents:
On a grand
tour of all thirteen colonies shortly after being elected to his
first Presidential term, George Washington nearly refused to enter
town when Hancock, the reigning governor, was not among the
welcoming party. Hancock felt that as the chief executive of the
state Washington should greet him. It took all the persuasive
powers of Sam Adams and
then-Vice President John Adams to get Washington to
continue along.
Hancock
quickly realized his mistake, paid a visit to Washington’s
lodgings the next day wrapped with an extensive collection of
bandages and claiming a horrible case of gout. Washington, upon
seeing his old
Revolutionary cohort in such a state, and reportedly with a tear
in his eye, accepted Hancock’s invitation for tea the next day at
Hancock’s Beacon Hill mansion where all was forgiven.
Hancock
displayed an effective advocacy for the rights of African
Americans: he attested to the Royal Governor on behalf of Phillis
Wheatley’s authorship of her
Poems On
Various Subjects, Both
Religious And Moral (as did Sam Adams) in 1773; he supported the
formation of an all-black military company, The
Bucks of America, in 1775; and he supported the
ratification of the 1781 Mass. Constitution and it’s implied
outlawing of slavery (legally settled in 1783)
Up until 1895
the only evidence of Hancock’s burial here at the Granary was a
slate slab placed flush in the ground that simply read "Hancock -
Tomb 16”
The
Massachusetts Legislature resolution that led to the creation
of the current 18-foot granite memorial was sponsored by a black
legislator named Robert Teamoh
On the Hancock
coat-of-arms, the Latin phrase, “Obsta
Principiis” has several translations:
“First In Resistance”; “Resist the First Encroachments”; or the
somewhat more contemporary, “Nip It In The Bud”
Abiah
Holbrook, the writing teacher that taught Hancock the art of
penmanship at the South Writing School, also “resides” here at the
Granary
The New State
House (only in Boston would a 1798 building be called “New”) is
built on Hancock’s former land
The former
Hancock mansion lost a last chance at survival in 1863 when a
state legislature motion to preserve the house as a historical
artifact lost by a single vote; the loss so outraged the local
populace that efforts to preserve the Old South Meeting House
(1872) and the Old State House (1881) became overwhelming
successes
The 1947
Hancock Building in the Back Bay district houses a neon-lit
weather beacon that still uses color codes to announce future
weather: “Steady blue, clear view; flashing blue, clouds are due;
steady red, rain ahead; flashing red, snow instead”
During the Red Sox’s baseball season the flashing red indicates
that the game at Fenway has been rained out
In 1976 the
brand-new John Hancock Tower, at 790 feet New England’s tallest
structure, had to have all 10,344 windows replaced when the lead
solder holding together each double-paned sheet of glass became
brittle and didn’t allow for any natural sway during periods of
strong winds (it was nicknamed “The Plywood Palace”)
Also due to
wind concerns two 300-ton steel-lined lead “dampers” had to be
placed on opposite ends of the fifty-eighth floor, each resting
on lubricated steel plates.
Ingeniously designed by William
LeMessurierhen, the custom designed springs and shock absorbers,
in combination with the lubricated steel plates, make the 300-ton
dampers actually remain in place while the building “surfs”
underneath (only a few inches each way!)
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