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Hancock's historical importance rests on his leadership of Massachusetts before, during, and after the Revolution. He is best known for his large bold signature on the Declaration of Independence, though. He was one of Boston's richest men and he aligned himself with Samuel Adams and the opposition to the Stamp Act. When his sloop Liberty was seized for smuggling during the opposition to the Townshed Acts in 1768 he became a figurehead to resistance to the British. He was a chief financial backer of a Patriot group and in 1774 he gave a speech on the Boston Massacre ( 1770). When British troops marched to Lexington and Concord in April of 1775 one of their missions was to capture Hancock as well as Samuel Adams. He was sent to the Second Continental Congress, he spent two years in Baltimore and Philadelphia to supply American forces and creating a navy. In 1780 he was elected the first governor of Mass under its new Constitution and was then reelected several times. When it came time to ratify the new US Constitution he took a critical role and urged it be ratified. When he died at the age of 56 he was the foremost leader of Mass.

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15y ago

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