Description:

Hancock John

John Hancock Superb Signature on Commission for Minuteman Who Was at Lexington / Concord, Very Rare

JOHN HANCOCK, Partially Printed Document Signed, Commission of William Hammond as Captain in the Militia, July 1, 1781 (“in the Fifth Year of Independence of the United States of America.”). 2 page document on single leaf, 11" x 12". Repaired tears on the folds with some loss of paper but only minor effects on one word.

Excerpt:

“You being appointed Captain of the Seventh Company in the First regiment of Militia in the County of Middx whereof Stephen Dana Esqr is Colonel. By Virtue of the Power vested in me, I do by these Presents, (reposing Special Trust and Confidence in your Loyalty, Courage and good Conduct) Commission you accordingly. You are therefore carefully and diligently to discharge the Duty of a Captain in leading, ordering and exercising said Company in Arms, both Inferior Officers and Soldiers....”

[Endorsement on verso:] “March 10th 1783 The within named Wm Hammond Personally appearing was sworn to the faithfull performance of the office to which he is appointed by this Commission / Before me Stephen Dana Colo”

John Hancock (1737-1793) was a Boston merchant and leader of the colonial resistance movement. Born in Braintree, his paternal uncle, Thomas Hancock, adopted John after his father died in 1742. John Hancock graduated from Harvard College in 1754 and went to work for his uncle, from whom he learned the mercantile trade. The Hancock family engaged in smuggling with the French West Indies in defiance of the Molasses Act. When his uncle died childless in 1764, John Hancock inherited the lucrative mercantile business and became one of the wealthiest men in New England. Named a Boston selectman in 1765, Hancock opposed the Stamp Act, and upon passage of the Townshend Duties in 1767, he resolved to prohibit British customs officials from setting foot on his ships. Hancock served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and, in 1774, he was elected president of the revolutionary Provincial Congress. He and Samuel Adams were the targets of General Gage’s projected campaign against Lexington and Concord in April 1775. During the war, Hancock served as President of the Continental Congress, 1775-1777, and in that capacity signed the Declaration of Independence in bold script on July 4, 1776. After Shays’ Rebellion embroiled Massachusetts in civil unrest in 1786 and 1787, Hancock’s support of the new Constitution was probably responsible for its ratification, by a narrow margin, by Massachusetts. Under a new Massachusetts constitution, he was overwhelmingly elected governor in 1780 and served until his resignation in January 1785. After Shays’ Rebellion confounded his successor James Bowdoin, Hancock returned to office as governor in 1787 and pardoned the rebels. He won reelection annually for the rest of his life.

William Hammond (1740-1814) was born in Massachusetts. He served as a sergeant in Captain Jeremiah Wiswell’s company from Newton in the Lexington Alarm in April 1775. He served as a commissary in Colonel Josiah Whitney’s regiment during the Revolutionary War. He later served as a captain of a company that he organized and equipped at his own expense. He was one of the selectmen of Newton, and later moved to Bangor, Maine, from which he was elected an agent to the general court of Massachusetts.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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