John Hancock was president of the Continental Congress when the United States Declaration of Independence was adopted.
Hancock was elected president of the Second Continental Congress on May 24, 1775. The position was primarily that of a presiding officer rather than an executive leader, but it placed him at the center of Congress during the crucial movement toward independence.
As president, Hancock’s name appeared prominently on the first widely distributed printed version of the Declaration, the Dunlap broadside. His large signature on the engrossed parchment later became one of the best-known symbols of the founding era.
A popular story says Hancock signed his name boldly so that King George III could read it without spectacles. Historians regard that story as a later legend. Hancock’s actual political importance came from his leadership in Congress and Massachusetts, not merely from the size of his signature.