With This Pen: John Hancock's Famous Signature

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The story has come down to us that John Hancock signed his name so big on the Declaration of Independence "so that King George can read that." Even though it's letting facts get in the way of a good story, that never happened.

Hancock did sign the Declaration, and he did it sign it that big. After all, we have the documentation to prove it. But he didn't sign it in front of a wh

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ole lot of other revolutionaries, as the famous Trumbull painting would have us believe, and he didn't sign it so big as an incentive for others to follow suit. Rather, his signature was as large as his life – which was large indeed.

Hancock was rich at a relatively young age – 26, to be exact. He inherited the fortune of a rich uncle and continued in his uncle's footsteps, as a merchant. He made lots and lots of money on shipping, both legal and illegal.

He chose to spend a lot of that money on causes dear to the hearts of Sam Adams, John Adams, and other American colonists looking to split from Mother England. Hancock it was who played a behind-the-scenes role in the Boston Tea Party and the Stamp Act Congress, which ultimately got the Stamp Act repealed.

A member of the Boston Assembly, Hancock was a delegate to the Continental Congress, the body that eventually approved of the Declaration. Hancock was so well respected that he was named president of the Continental Congress, which was ultimately how he came to be presented with the Declaration of Independence for signing.

And sign he did, but on a blank piece of parchment and in front of a minimal audience. The other men who signed the famous document did so in later days, over time.