Our signature 1776 revolutionary
John Hancock was an aristocratic Boston merchant, Harvard College graduate (Class of 1754), Revolutionary War hero, and the first patriot to sign the Declaration of Independence. It is not Hancock’s patriotism, of course, that chiefly survives in the popular imagination 220 years after his death. It is his dramatic autograph — floridly large, and (in case we missed seeing it) underlined. The first synonym for “signature,” after all, is “John Hancock.” Harvard owns an early example, which anchors a signed 1754 letter to his sister Mary. But as the Fourth of July approaches, it is useful to remember that around the time of the Revolution, Hancock — sequestered in Philadelphia and Baltimore with the Continental Congress — was wary of more than attacks from the hovering British. He was wary of attacks, by letter, from officials at Harvard College. They wanted their money back. A letter from John Hancock to his sister, Mary,...