John Hancock was the first delegate to sign the United States Declaration of Independence, a document central to America250.
Hancock served as president of the Second Continental Congress when the Declaration was adopted. In that role, he signed first, placing his large, distinctive signature prominently beneath the document’s text. His name became so recognizable that “John Hancock” later became an American expression for a signature.
Hancock was a wealthy Boston merchant and an important Massachusetts political leader. British authorities had accused him and Samuel Adams of treason before the Declaration, helping make Hancock a prominent revolutionary figure.
Although John Hancock’s signature is the largest and most famous, he was not the document’s principal writer. Thomas Jefferson drafted the original text, while Congress revised and approved it. George Washington, another central Revolutionary figure, was not a signer because he was serving as commander of the Continental Army rather than as a delegate.