In 1775, the members of the Second Continental Congress and their President John Hancock were in a bit of a conundrum. On the one hand, Act after Act of the British Parliament were making it clear Parliament not only considered themselves the de facto rulers and governing body of the colonies, but that any push back against Parliament would result in harsh penalties. On the other hand, the general sentiment among the populace and leaders of the colonies was to continue to push for peace and remain in the British Empire. In a nutshell, being part of the British Empire was not generally considered the problem, simply that Parliament continued to act like it ruled in America instead of the local colonial governments. Thus, the colonists wanted Parliament to leave them be, while remaining loyal subjects to the King.
In fact, almost exactly a year before Congress would declare independence, they tried very hard to go the other way in their Olive Branch Petition to King George III, approved on July 5, 1775. In it Congress stated,
“We, your Majesty’s faithful subjects of the colonies…entreat your Majesty’s gracious attention to this our humble petition…. we not only most ardently desire the former harmony between her and these colonies may be restored, but that a concord may be established between them upon so firm a basis as to perpetuate its blessings, uninterrupted by any future dissentions, to succeeding generations in both countries… That your Majesty may enjoy a long and prosperous reign, and that your descendants may govern your dominions with honor to them selves and happiness to their subjects, is our sincere and fervent prayer.”
Thus, professing their loyalty to the king and desire to remain in the British Empire, they simply were asking that he intercede on their behalf with Parliament and their recent actions against the American colonies.
Had King George responded differently here, much of history would have irrevocably changed. But instead, he allegedly didn’t even bother to read their petition before issuing his Proclamation of Rebellion on August 23, 1775, writing,
“Whereas many of our subjects in divers parts of our Colonies and Plantations in North America, misled by dangerous and ill designing men, and forgetting the allegiance which they owe to the power that has protected and supported them… have at length proceeded to open and avowed rebellion, by arraying themselves in a hostile manner… we have thought fit… to issue our Royal Proclamation, hereby declaring, that not only all our Officers, civil and military, are obliged to exert their utmost endeavors to suppress such rebellion, and to bring the traitors to justice, but that all our subjects of this Realm, and the dominions thereunto belonging, are bound by law to be aiding and assisting in the suppression of such rebellion… in order to bring to condign punishment the authors, perpetrators, and abettors of such traitorous designs.”
Doubling down on disabusing the colonists of the notion that he would be loyal to them, his subjects, and not Parliament, King George also went ahead and began hiring mercenaries to level against the colonists.
Further antagonizing the traitors to the British crown, Parliament soon after passed the Prohibitory Act of 1775 which not only removed the colonies from the protection of the King, put also put an end to any trade with the colonies in an attempt to wreck their economy, as well as declared that any ship found trading with the colonists, to quote, “shall be forfeited to his Majesty, as if the same were the ships and effects of open enemies.”
As for the Continental Congress’s thoughts on all this, they note “That as to the king, we had been bound to him by allegiance, but that this bond was now dissolved by his assent to the late Act of Parliament by which he declares us out of his protection.”
John Adams would also chime in, “It throws thirteen colonies out of the royal protection, levels all distinctions, and makes us independent in spite of our supplications and entreaties… It may be fortunate that the act of independency should come from the British Parliament rather than the American Congress.”
As with the Boston Tea Party in our previous video in this series, Hancock: Igniting the Revolution, where the colonists were forced between submitting and allowing the tea to touch American soil or destroy it, the colonists were now forced via British government action to choose between two paths. On the one hand, they could submit, and accept Parliamentary rule over themselves without representation in that body, as well as any penance Parliament required for their act of rebellion. Or they could officially cut ties with their motherland and fight one of the most powerful empires in history for independence. There no longer seemed any option of a middle ground.
As Thomas Jefferson would sum up the state of things at this point to one of his friends now returned to England, loyalist John Randolph, in a letter written on November 29, 1775,
“In an earlier part of this contest, our petitions told [the King], that from our King there was but one appeal. The admonition was despised, and that appeal forced on us. To undo his Empire, he has but one more truth to learn; that, after Colonies have drawn the sword, there is but one step more they can take. That step is now pressed upon us, by the measures adopted,… Believe me, dear Sir, there is not in the British Empire a man who more cordially loves a union with Great Britain than I do. But, by the God that made me, I will cease to exist before I yield to a connection on such terms as the British Parliament propose; and in this I think I speak the sentiments of America. We want neither inducement nor power, to declare and assert a separation. It is will alone which is wanting, and that is growing apace, under the fostering hand of our King. One bloody campaign will probably decide, everlastingly, our future course… If our winds and waters should not combine to rescue their shores from slavery, and General Howe’ s re-enforcement should arrive in safety, we have hopes he will be inspirited to come out of Boston and take another drubbing; and we must drub him soundly, before the sceptred tyrant will know we are not mere brutes, to crouch under his hand, and kiss the rod with which he deigns to scourge us.”
With no other way forward but subservience, over the following months, one by one the colonies began to fall in line with the notion of breaking away from the British Empire, with North Carolina on April 12, 1776 being the first to officially empower their delegates to vote for independence, followed by Rhode Island becoming the first to openly declare independence on May 4.
Nevertheless, as summer approached, debate over the matter was reportedly extremely heated with, on May 15th, Maryland’s delegation even walking out of the proceedings on passing a preamble as a precursor to an official declaration of independence. Nevertheless, 9 of the 13 colonies voted for the preamble and it was passed. That very day, the Virginia legislature also instructed their delegation “to propose to that respectable body to declare the United Colonies free and independent States…”
And so it was that on June 7, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia officially proposed just such a resolution, ultimately seconded by John Adams, “Resolved, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.”
The push back was still there, however. Once again, at this point most agreed that independence was inevitable given British actions, but there was still heated debate over the timing, with some arguing they should wait until they had secured foreign aid without which, it seemed probable the revolution would fail. Another issue at this point was that some of the colonies had still not yet authorized their delegates to vote on the matter of independence. Thus, a vote was withheld on it, but in the interim it was decided to have a document drawn up which would both declare the colonies independent and list the reasons why they felt justified in taking this extreme action, with the so-called Committee of 5 put together to draft the document, comprising of John Adams, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman.
In a surprising move, the committee selected the young 33 year old Jefferson to write the document over the much more distinguished writer and well known individual world wide in Ben Franklin, or one of the pinnacles of legal and political minds in the world at the time in John Adams. It was, however, Adams who would persuade both the committee to choose Jefferson, and to convince Jefferson himself to take the lead. Adams would write to Jefferson on his reasoning, “Reason first—You are a Virginian, and a Virginian ought to appear at the head of this business. Reason second—I am obnoxious, suspected and unpopular. You are very much otherwise. Reason third—You can write ten times better than I can.”
Unfortunately the Committee did not keep minutes on their internal discussions, so there isn’t a whole lot to say as to its drafting, But as to the text of the Declaration, Jefferson would state it was “Neither aiming at originality of principle or sentiment, nor yet copied from any particular and previous writing, it was intended to be an expression of the American mind, and to give to that expression the proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion.” Ultimately borrowing from everything from John Locke to the 1689 English Declaration of Rights, which had ended the reign of King James II.
Now nearing the end of June, the legislatures of all but two of the colonies, Maryland, and New York, had finally authorized their delegates to vote on the matter of independence, and the Provincial Congress of New Jersey even had their Royal Governor William Franklin arrested on June 15. However, one of Maryland’s delegates, Samuel Chase, was ultimately able to convince the Assembly of the Counties of Maryland to change their mind on June 28 and allow the Maryland delegates to vote on the matter. This was the same day the Committee of 5 first presented their final draft of ‘A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled” to Congress. New York delegates, however, had to abstain from voting on it owing to British forces interfering with the Provincial Congress there convening to give them permission.
Nevertheless, over the next few days Congress continually made tweaks to the Committee of 5’s document, cutting out about a quarter of the original text, as well as tweaking the wording here and there. As to what was removed, most notable was a section where Jefferson, ironically not only a slave holder himself but who would eventually have an entire family and long term relationship with one of his slaves, not only condemned the evil of slavery, but accused King George of aiding that institution in the colonies.
Jefferson would later write of why this text was removed, “The clause, too, reprobating the enslaving the inhabitants of Africa was struck out in complaisance to South Carolina and Georgia, who had never attempted to restrain the importation of slaves, and who, on the contrary, still wished to continue it. Our Northern brethren also, I believe, felt a little tender under these censures, for though their people had very few slaves themselves, yet they had been pretty considerable carriers of them to others.”
With the document finalized on July 1 and a vote pending, John Dickinson, who opposed any violent means to resolve their issues with Britain, tried one more last ditch effort to forgo any such declaration until they were more secure in their position with foreign aid and had completed the Articles of Confederation, but he was opposed as ever by John Adams who gave an impassioned speech the other way in response.
As a brief aside, Dickinson would, in the aftermath, both refuse to vote on the matter, as well as later refuse to sign the declaration, and because of this was not able to remain a member of the Continental Congress, though did voluntarily resign rather than be forcibly removed. Dickinson would state of all this, “My conduct this day, I expect will give the finishing blow to my once too great and, my integrity considered, now too diminished popularity.”
Despite his opposition, which again included extreme opposition to violent means to achieve independence, rather than abstain from fighting, upon leaving Congress Dickinson immediately joined the Pennsylvania militia, one of the only members of the Continental Congress to directly take up arms during the war. Further, as much as Adams and he had been adversaries in Congress over the matter of independence, because of Dickinson standing by his principles so vehemently even given all it cost him to do so, Adams would remark of him, “Mr. Dickinson’s alacrity and spirit certainly become his character and sets a fine example.”
In the end, on July 2nd 12 of the 13 colonies voted in favor of independence, with only the New York delegates abstaining until they could get permission to vote on the matter, which happened about a week later.
Document finally approved, as President of Congress, John Hancock seems to have signed it, with Secretary of Congres Charles Thomson also signing it as witness. Hancock then ordered to have printer John Dunlap make around 200 copies to be distributed to the masses and the world, today known as the Dunlap broadsides.
And yes on this note, seemingly just John Hancock signed it at this point, though even that isn’t technically known for sure as the original copy sent to Dunlap was lost, though given Hancock and then Thomson’s name as witness were printed on these, it’s generally assumed Hancock did sign it.
As for the version of the Declaration of Independence most people know today with Hancock’s famed giant signature, this engrossed version that is on display at the United States National Archives wasn’t created until sometime after July 19th, and ultimately wasn’t signed by everyone until August 2nd.
As for this signing, Benjamin Rush stated that it was a fairly somber affair with only the portly Benjamin Harrison trying to break the mood by cracking a joke to Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, stating,
“I shall have a great advantage over you, Mr. Gerry, when we are all hung for what we are now doing. From the size and weight of my body I shall die in a few minutes and be with the Angels, but from the lightness of your body you will dance in the air an hour or two before you are dead.”
Rush states Gerry’s only reply was, to quote, “a transient smile, but it was soon succeeded by the Solemnity with which the whole business was conducted.”
This all brings us to John Hancock’s signature on the engrossed copy of the Declaration and why it was so much bigger than everyone else’s, leading to his name being synonymous with one’s signature. As for the common myth, legend has it that Hancock signed the document front and center and so big so that King George would see his name without needing to put on his glasses, but there is no evidence of any of this, and as noted the previous printed versions that King George would actually see simply had Hancock’s name printed on.
Further, if you’ve watched the other videos in this series: Hancock: Rise of the Merchant Prince, Hancock: Igniting the Revolution, and Hancock: Revere’s Ride, you’ll know King George was already extremely well aware of John Hancock’s significant role in the rebellion, so a giant signature was not needed to make it clear who was President of the Continental Congress. In fact, it was John Hancock’s signature that was first and foremost on the previous Olive Branch Petition to the King that had been so soundly rejected.
So why was Hancock’s signature bigger than everyone else’s and front and center? While nobody can say for sure, most likely it was simply because of the very aforementioned fact- he was president of Congress and first to sign. So chose to sign right in the center. And without yet any other signatures there, he had no real gauge of how big or small to make it. And, contrary to what you might think from what people say, if you’ve never seen it, if you take out everyone else’s signature, nothing about his signature looks out of place in size or position on the document. It’s really not that big except relative to the other signatures.
As to why everyone else chose to make theirs smaller, this may have been in slight deference to Hancock as their President, or may have simply been that the first to sign after him chose to make it smaller for whatever reason so everyone else followed suit. As for those signature sizes, after Hancock, William Ellery was the next biggest at about 60% the space taken up by Hancock’s signature, with Carter Braxton the smallest at about 1/10th the space, and everyone else randomly in between.
Whatever the case, again, being the first to sign, Hancock did not have any gauge to know how big anyone else would sign. So seemingly just did what seemed appropriate without such a reference.
Although, I think the best explanation we’ve ever heard was written by one Matt Stofsky. His entire explanation is too long to fully illustrate here, but in part, he gives a totally and in all ways we are sure accurate account of John Hancock’s reasoning, with Hancock definitely writing the following as relayed by Stofsky,
“Now that our noble document is complete, it is time to address the elephant in the room: my name is much bigger than everyone else’s. I’ll be the first to admit that it is absolutely massive. Yet I must also speak this self-evident truth: it is not entirely my fault.
The fact is I thought we were all doing big signatures. That’s what I was told. Do none of you remember Thomas Jefferson—hopped up on parchment fumes and cheap barleywine—running around telling everyone our ‘sigs’ had to be ‘freakin’ huge’? Then I go first, and everybody bursts out laughing like I did something foolish.
I hereby call on my brethren of the Second Continental Congress—those who I know to be defenders of liberty, progress, and the values of the Enlightenment, to which we are all fan-boyishly devoted for some reason—to publicly stand up and say everybody told John Hancock we were doing big sigs.”
Whatever the case there, in the aftermath of the Dunlap broadsides being printed and distributed, there was no going back. It was a successful revolution or every member of that committee would be executed for treason.
John Hancock would write of this in a letter to George Washington on July 6, 1776, stating, “Altho it is not possible to foresee the Consequences of Human Actions, yet it is nevertheless a Duty we owe ourselves and Posterity, in all our public Counsels, to decide in the best Manner we are able, and to leave the Event to that Being who controuls both Causes and Events to bring about his own Determinations.”
Of course, being commander of the revolutionary forces, Washington was no doubt praying hard right then to that Being who Controls Both Causes and Events, because mere days after the Declaration of Independence was announced to the world on July 4, 1776, the aforementioned British troops under command of the Howe brothers sailed into Staten Island. Both Admiral Richard Howe and General William Howe had previously strongly sympathized with the colonists’, with William Howe even before the war at various points arguing for fairer treatment of the American colonies in Parliament. The pair also delayed their departure to the colonies a considerable amount of time to try to acquire powers to negotiate a peace, rather than simply subjugating the colonists with force.
However, while they may have sympathized with their former compatriots, their goal upon arriving in the New World was to put an end to the rebellion by any means necessary. Towards this end, they brought with them an army of around 32,000 soldiers and seamen, along with a whopping 400 ships, including nearly 100 warships.
On the other side, the relatively newly minted General George Washington had been preparing defenses of the region, correctly guessing that it was in New York that the British would strike with these invading forces.
In order to try to get Washington more support, as Howe was gathering his forces, Hanock would write the state assemblies stating, “I must repeat again to you that…. the Fate of America will be determined the ensuing campaign. I cannot help therefore once more pressing you to be expeditious in equipping & sending forward your Troops…. May the Great Disposer of all human Events, animate & guide your Councils, & enable you so to determine, that you may not only establish your own temporal Peace and Happiness, but those of your Posterity. Forgive this passionate Language. I am unable to restrain it–it is the Language of the Heart.”
In a similar letter he would write calling for aid, “Our affairs are hastening fast to a crisis, and the approaching campaign will, in all probability determine forever the fate of America…. The militia of the United Colonies…. are called upon to say whether they will live slaves or die free men….On your exertions…..the salvation of America now…. Depends.”
As for Howe, he initially attempted a peaceful resolution on July 20th. However, upon learning from Colonel James Patterson at a meeting discussing terms that Howe had only been granted the power to offer pardons in negotiations for peace, Washington famously replied, “Those who have committed no fault want no pardon.”
Diplomacy having failed. The Howe brothers decided to attack, and a few weeks later, the then largest known battle ever fought in North America, involving close to 40,000 troops, including naval forces, was game on.
What followed was a sweeping British victory which was almost catastrophic for the traitors to the British Crown, potentially ending the rebellion right there. You see, during the fighting, Howe managed to corner nearly half of Washington’s army. But for reasons still not totally clear today, Howe decided to cease pressing the attack at that point and instead ordered his soldiers to dig into their position. Speculations as to why he stopped are anything from that he thought Washington was surrounded and was giving him a chance to surrender without further loss of life, to that he simply thought pressing the attack, while likely to succeed, would have cost too many lives he could not easily replace. And as he felt his enemy couldn’t escape, there was little lost in taking the time to fortify his position.
Whatever Howe was thinking here, Washington did not have surrender on his mind. Instead, in part aided by seemingly history changing fog that no doubt had Washington thanking the “Being who controls both causes and events”, Washington was able to slip the some 9,000 soldiers he had in that position away into Manhattan, all without the British realizing their enemy was escaping. Thus, what could have been a blow to the Continental Army that may well have ended any real chance at Independence while the ink on the Declaration of Independence was barely dry, instead saw the demoralized Continental Army having suffered a major defeat, with over 1,000 troops captured and a significant position lost, but, they, at least, mostly survived to fight another day.
Things in the aftermath, however, would not improve much, with the revolutionary forces being defeated again and again such as at Kips Bay, Harlem Heights, White Plains, and Fort Washington. With retreat after retreat, and the budding nation desperately in need of funds to support war efforts, by 1777, things were bleak. Though despite all this, John Adams would steadfastly write, “Affairs are… delicate and critical. The panic may seize whom it will. It will not seize me.”
John Hancock would write to his wife Dolly on March 10th about the state of affairs at this point, illustrating the more personal side of the struggle for all those involved, generally kept from their families and homes and in a perpetual heightened state of extreme stress,
“My Dear Dear Dolly, My Detention at the Ferry & the badness of the Roads prevented my arriving here until Friday Evening. I put my things into Mr. Williams’ house, and went in pursuit of Lodgings. Neither Mrs. Yard nor Lucy could accommodate me. I then went to Smith’s and borrowed two Blankets & returned to my own house… I… lead a doleful lonesome life. Tho on Saturday I dined at Dr. Shippins… he is as lonesome as I… I long to have you here & I know you will be as expeditious as you can. When I part from you again it must be a very extraordinary occasion… However unsettled things may be I could not help sending for you as I cannot live in this way. We have an abundance of lies. The current report is that General Howe is bent on coming here…. We must, however, take our chances… I hope you will be able to pack up all your things quickly & have them on the way & that you will soon follow… Young Mr. Hillagas got here on Saturday, he is well, he delivered me your letter… I was exceedingly glad to hear from you and hope soon to receive another Letter. I know you will set off as soon as You can. endeavor to make good stages… I must leave those matters to you as the Road must in great measure determine your Stages. I do not imagine there is any danger of small-pox on the Road. Wilmington is the most dangerous, but go on to Chester. I want to get somebody clever to accompany you. I hope to send one to you, but if I should not be able, you must make out as well as you can.”
Speaking of Howe advancing on them, Alexander Hamilton would write to John Hancock on September 18, 1777: “If Congress have not yet left Philadelphia, they ought to do it immediately without fail, for the enemy have the means of throwing a party this night into the city. I just now crossed the valleyford, in doing which a party of the enemy came down & fired upon us in the boat by which means I lost my horse. One man was killed and another wounded. The boats were abandon’d & will fall into their hands…”
Going back to the personal side of things, on October 18, 1777, Hancock would write Dolly again, “My Dear Dolly, I am now at this date and not a line from you. Nor a single word have I heard from you since… your arrival at Worcester, which you my judge affects me not a little, but I must submit and will only say that I expected often to have been the object of your attention. This is my sixth letter to you… I long to see you. I shall close all my business in three days and indeed have already nearly finished, and when once I set out shall travel with great speed. Nothing will prevent my seeing you soon, with the leave of providence… I need not tell you there will be no occasion of your writing me after the receipt of this. My best wishes attend you for every good. I have much to say, which I leave to a cheerful evening with you in person.”
Noteworthy on this apparent ghosting by his wife, the couples’ baby, Lydia, had died just a few months before and it may well be she was a little emotionally preoccupied. Or perhaps as noted in our previous video Hancock: Revere’s Ride where she ghosted him yet again for a time shortly before their marriage, she simply didn’t enjoy writing letters.
Whatever the case, as referenced in his letter there, after two years chairing Congress as its President, in October of 1777, Hancock requested a leave of absence to return home to sort his affairs in Boston and rejoin his grieving wife. As for his leadership over Congress, this was generally seen as exemplary, using all his skills as a businessman and negotiator to mediate disputes, manage finances, drum up funds, as well as help coordinate the entire effort on all fronts.
In his farewell address to Congress, he stated, “Gentlemen: Friday last completed two years and five months since you did me the honor of electing me to fill this chair. As I could never flatter myself your choice proceeded from any idea of my abilities, but rather from a partial opinion of my attachment to the liberties of America, I felt myself under the strongest obligation to discharge the duties of office…. I think I shall be forgiven, if I say, I have spared no pains, expense, or labor to gratify your wishes and to accomplish the views of Congress.”
Unsurprisingly, what Hancock found in Boston upon his return was not only a hero’s welcome, but also his once vaunted House of Hancock business in shambles, and the town not in much better shape. On the trade side, all but two of his ships were gone, with Hancock quickly selling both of these to pay off some debts, officially putting the House of Hancock out of the import/export business. He was still, however, extremely rich in real estate and had massive sums of money owed to him, but as pretty much everyone’s finances were poor at this time, collecting debts wasn’t exactly going well, and Hancock wasn’t the type to force tenants and the like who couldn’t pay to do so until they could.
That said, it’s generally thought he must have still had a good amount of money available to him even at this point, as, while he had sold the remainder of his ships, he didn’t bother trying to sell any of his real estate. And on top of that, ever the philanthropist as his uncle before him, among his first acts upon arriving in Boston was to provide food, clothing and the like to widows and orphans of the war, as well as funds and supplies to help people repair their damaged homes and rebuild their lives.
Naturally from all this and his former exemplary work leading Congress, after a few months leave, in December of 1777, he was a shoe-in to be re-elected to the Continental Congress. Upon rejoining that body in June of 1778, within a month, along with 7 other state’s delegates, he signed the finally completed Articles of Confederation, the first Constitution of the United States- though noteworthy this wouldn’t be ratified until 1781.
Perhaps the most critical thing of all for the war also occurred in 1778 with Congress establishing the Treaty of Alliance with France, without which the colonist would almost certainly have lost the war, as this treaty not only garnered the colonists significant direct military aid from one of the more powerful nations in the world, but also on the side French action caused Britain to have to divert some of its manpower elsewhere in the world. This was something that was only doubled down on with regards to issues for Britain when the British seized a Dutch ship allegedly carrying supplies to France, causing a row with the Dutch in yet another thing the British had to occupy themselves with instead of focussing on their rebelling colonies. This would all also culminate in the Dutch becoming the 2nd nation after France to officially recognize the United States’ independence in 1782.
In any event, rewinding back to July of 1778, John Hancock finally got his chance to lead a mass of troops, though unfortunately the whole thing was rather anticlimactic on his end. While you’ll sometimes read that Hancock at the head of 6,000 Massachusetts troops suffered a major defeat owing to his bumbling attack on the British entrenched in Newport, Rhode Island, and only retaining his popularity after thanks to the extent of his previous work in the revolution, as well as philanthropic efforts, this isn’t really accurate at all.
As to the real story, in a nutshell, Washington ordered General John Sullivan, a man John Adams once expressed his wish “that the first ball that had been fired… had gone through [Sullivan’s] head,” to attack the British garrison in Newport. Hancock was indeed there commanding several thousand soldiers, and by the way Paul Revere was there as well, but they weren’t really otherwise involved in much of anything in the disaster that follow, both in that Hancock seems to have left any actual planning and commanding to the professional soldiers under him, as well as the fact that his troops just were not really that involved because they left and went home to Boston.
As to why, thanks to a major storm and some skirmishes before and directly after when scattered, the supporting French fleet, under French Admiral d’Estaing, was in need of repairs to many of their ships and no amount of arguing from Sullivan’s side, and Hancock reportedly also made his own attempt, could convince the Admiral to remain. And, thus, the French fleet departed on August 21 for Boston. It didn’t help that the assembled militia, according to Marquis de Lafayette, didn’t exactly inspire confidence they could do what they said they could even if they had the fleet’s help. Lafayette stated, “I have never seen a more laughable spectacle; all the tailors and apothecaries in the country must have been called out. They were mounted on bad nags, and looked like a flock of ducks in cross-belts.”
This left Sullivan in a very precarious position, not just from the French withdrawal, but also because without French aid, any chance of succeeding in taking Newport at this point was gone. Thus, many of the militia troops, particularly those under temporary contract of just a few weeks, simply deserted. Likewise Hancock and his army also withdrew as there was no point in hanging around anymore, with he and his men back home in Boston by August 26th.
In the aftermath, the very much needed relationship with France was strained, with the American public being less than kind, to put it mildly, in the press and the like with regards to the French and their actions on this one, generally blaming them and their alleged cowardice for the failure of the campaign. Once again showing his skills as a diplomat and mediator, Hancock tried to restore friendly relations, in this case putting together both a formal dinner and subsequent reception at Faneuil Hall for the French Admiral and Lafayette and their officers, with most of Boston’s leading citizens in attendance as well.
Fast-forwarding about a year later, John Adams was recalled from France to Massachusetts in August of 1779 and returned to being a private citizen briefly, though only a week later was appointed to draft a new Constitution for the state, ultimately in the span of just a couple months writing what would become to this day the oldest still functioning codified constitution, which not coincidentally heavily influence the United States Constitution, the second oldest still functioning codified constitution. For more on all that, see our video The Key to Humans Humaning.
But as to our story today, with the new Massachusetts Constitution ratified on June 15, 1780 and going into effect in October of that year, the people of Massachusetts were in need of a governor. And if you’ve been following along in our Hancock series and guessed John Hancock, one of the most popular men in all of the colonies, would be elected in a landslide as the state’s first Governor, you’d be correct, with Hancock assuming that role on October 25, 1780 after getting an astounding approximately 90% of the votes.
Unfortunately for Hancock at this time, while he was continually re-elected up through 1785 when he’d switch to become the President of United States under the Articles of Confederation, like his father and uncle before him, his health was rapidly in decline despite only being in his 40s.
As to what ailed him, as seemingly ran in his family, he suffered from occasional severe bouts of gout that would leave him bed-ridden. Nevertheless, he soldiered on and while still governor of Massachusetts, the peace with the British was announced in 1783.
Hancock, who had sacrificed much of his fortune and was among the first the British targeted to hang for treason should the war have gone the other way, would express his relief, writing after he found out,
“I have not the vanity to think that I have been of very extensive service in our late unhappy contest, but one thing I can truly boast: I set out upon honest principles and strictly adhered to them to the close of the contest… I have lost many thousand sterling but, thank God, my country is saved and, by the smile of Heaven, I am a free and independent man.”
His work for the nation was not done, however. And despite victory, now without the British threat uniting them, the states of the confederation were on the verge of falling completely apart, with many even regularly violating the terms of the treaty with the British which could have had catastrophic consequences if allowed to continue. Something needed to be done, rapidly.
We’ll conclude this tale in our next and final video in this series- Hancock: United at Last.
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