On this episode of Neutral World, it's part of Founding Father's Week.

I'm talking about the lives and legacies of our original founders and the impact they've had in our country.

On this episode of Neutral World, John Hancock was an American founding father,

merchant, statesman, and prominent patriot of the American Revolution.

He served as president of the Second Convental Congress and was the first and third governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,

and perhaps he has remembered best because of his huge signature of the Declaration of Independence.

He also signed the Articles of Confederation and used his influence to ensure that Massachusetts ratified the United States Constitution in 1788.

Hancock had a fascinating life. He was the son and grandson of ministers, born January 12, 1737.

He was sort of destined to become a minister. However, his life changed when Hancock was seven years old after his father died,

and his mother, brother, and sister went to live with his grandparents in Lexington, Massachusetts.

Hancock stayed in Lexington, whose brief, as his grandfather sent him to Boston, to live with his uncle Thomas in Antlidia,

who had no children of their own. They wanted him a better schooling to prepare him for Harvard College.

His uncle was one of the richest merchants in Boston and lived in a mansion on top of Beacon Hill.

Hancock attended Boston Laton School and graduated from Harvard in 1754 at the age of 17.

Instead of following his late father and grandfather's footsteps, Hancock returned to his uncles to work in his merchant business, and noticed he was graduating younger than many Americans today enter college.

When his uncle died in 1765, Hancock, who was 27 years old at the time, inherited his uncle's entire fortune and the merchant business.

Now Hancock was actually more interested in politics than in business, and in 1765 he was elected as a selectman of Boston.

When the British government passed a stand-backed, initially Hancock was not opposed to the act, but after witnessing the protest in Boston, he changed his mind.

He then started participating in the protest by boycotting the importation of British goods, when that made him popular with people in Boston.

In 1766, Samuel Adams voiced his public support for Hancock, which helped him get elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and by the way,

there must have been quite a contrast between the oratory of Samuel Adams and the merchant background of Hancock, and made him quite a pair as allies.

When Parliament passed the Townsend Act, Congress began smuggling goods to avoid paying taxes, which caused British ships to illegally search and seize ships.

...