John Hancock is the Declaration of Independence signer famous for having the largest signature.
Hancock served as president of the Second Continental Congress when the Declaration was adopted. His large, sweeping signature appears prominently beneath the document’s text, making his name especially recognizable even to people who have never studied the complete list of signers.
Hancock was a wealthy Boston merchant and a leading political figure in Massachusetts. British authorities had already considered him a major revolutionary target, and his name appeared with Samuel Adams on an early 1775 proclamation offering a reward for their capture.
The phrase “John Hancock” later became an American idiom meaning a person’s signature. Although Hancock’s signature is visually dominant, he was one of 56 signers, and the Declaration represented the action of Congress rather than Hancock alone.