John Hancock’s famous large signature appears on the engrossed United States Declaration of Independence.
Hancock was serving as president of the Second Continental Congress when the Declaration was adopted. His prominent position helps explain why his name is associated so strongly with the document and why “John Hancock” became an informal American synonym for a signature.
The familiar parchment copy was signed primarily on August 2, 1776, rather than in a single grand ceremony on July 4. Hancock’s name also appeared on the first printed broadside, although it was printed there rather than written as his famous handwritten signature.
A popular story says Hancock made the signature large so King George III could read it without spectacles. Historians regard that story as apocryphal. The signature’s size and style nevertheless made it one of the most recognizable marks in American history.