September 3, 2025 • 13 mins
This captivating biography delves into the life of John Hancock, one of the most influential figures in American history. As a Founding Father, merchant, statesman, and a key Patriot of the American Revolution, Hancocks story is one of resilience and leadership. The author skillfully narrates Hancocks journey from his childhood and education to his significant political and military contributions, providing a comprehensive look at the man behind the iconic signature. - Summary by GoodReads
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Chapter twelve of John Hancock, The Picturesque Patriot by Lorenzo Sears.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. On the
road to Congress, on the twenty fourth of April, the
two delegates arrived at Worcester in advance of three others,
John Adams, Cushing, and pain whence all were to proceed
(00:24):
together under escort. Not finding the rest of the delegation,
Hancock wrote an alarm and uncertainty to the Committee of
Safety at Watertown, whither the Provincial Congress had removed after
the disturbance had conquered Worcester. April twenty fourth, seventeen seventy five,
Monday evening, Gentlemen, mister Samuel Adams and myself just arrived here.
(00:51):
Find no intelligence from you and no guard. We hear
an express has just passed through this place to you
from New York, in form wing that the administration is
bent upon pushing matters, and that four regiments are expected there.
How are we to proceed? Where are our brethren? Surely
we ought to be supported. I had rather be with you,
(01:14):
and at present am fully determined to be with you
before I proceed. I beg by return of this express
to hear from you, and pray furnish us with depositions
of the conduct of the troops, the certainty of their
firing first, and every circumstance relative to the conduct of
the troops from the nineteenth instant to this time, that
(01:36):
we may be able to give some account of matters
as we proceed, especially at Philadelphia. Also, I beg you
would order your secretary to make out an account of
your proceedings, since what has taken place, what your plan is,
what prisoners we have, and what they have of ours? Who,
of note was killed on both sides, who commands our forces, etc?
(02:00):
Are our men in good spirits for God's sake? Do
not suffer the spirit to subside until they have perfected
the reduction of our enemies. Boston must be entered, The
troops must be sent away. Our friends are valuable, but
our country must be saved. I have an interest in
that town. What can be the enjoyment of that town
(02:20):
if I am obliged to hold it at the will
of General Gage or any one else. I doubt not
your vigilance, your fortitude and resolution. Do let us know
how you proceed. We must have the castle stop up
the harbor against large vessels coming. You know better what
to do than I can point out. Where is mister Cushing,
(02:42):
our mister Payne, and mister John Adams? To be with us?
What are we to depend upon? We travel rather as deserters,
which I will not submit to. I will return and
join you if I cannot detain this man, as much
as I want to hear from you. How goes on
the Congress? Who is your president? Are the members hardy?
(03:03):
Pray remember mister Samuel Adams and myself to all friends,
God be with you. I am gentlemen, your faithful and
hardy countryman John Hancock to the gentleman Committee of Safety.
After three days of waiting, Adams and Hancock left Worcester,
reaching Hartford in two days on Saturday the twenty ninth.
(03:25):
There they held a conference with Governor Trumbull and planned
the surprise of Fort Tykwonderoga, which was affected by Ethan
Allen accompanied by Benedict Arnold on the ninth of May.
New York also had the same purpose in mind when
it's Committee of Safety voted that as misterrs Adams and
Hancock are daily expected in this city, the Committee of
(03:46):
Correspondence and intelligence wait on them and request a private
conference on the subject of the above letter which the
Aubany Committee had sent them. But Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont
troops got the start of New York, and then the
next morning, after the conference, the fort was taken before
the commander was fairly awake. When Adams and Hancock reached
(04:07):
King's Bridge on Saturday, May sixth, they found that the
rest of their delegation had passed them somewhere on the
way and had arrived before them. John Adams, who had
been ill with a fever, wrote in his diary, I
was determined to go as far as I could, and
instead of venturing on horseback, I got into a sulky
(04:27):
attended by a servant on horseback, and proceeded on the journey.
I overtook my colleagues before they reached New York. At Kingsbridge,
they were joined by the Connecticut delegation and made their
entry into New York in the manner described by Hancock
in the following letter to Dorothy Quincy, New York, Sabbath
(04:47):
evening May seventh, seventeen seventy five, My dear Dolly, I
arrived well, though fatigued at King's Bridge at fifteen minutes
after two o'clock yesterday were I found the delegates of
Massachusetts and Connecticut, with a number of gentlemen from New
York and a guard of the troop. I dined and
then set out in the procession for New York, the
(05:10):
carriage of your humble servant, of course, being first in
the procession. When we arrived within three miles of the city,
we were met by the Grenadier Company and regiment of
the city militia under arms, gentlemen in carriages and on horseback,
and many thousands of persons on foot. The roads filled
with people, and the greatest cloud of dust I ever saw.
(05:32):
In this situation. We entered the city, and, passing through
the principal streets of New York, amidst the acclamations of thousands,
were set down at mister Francis's. After entering the house,
three hussahs were given and the people by degrees dispersed.
When I got within a mile of the city, my
carriage was stopped, and persons appearing with proper harnesses, insisted
(05:56):
upon taking out my horses and dragging me into and
through the city, a circumstance I would not have had
taken place upon any consideration, not being fond of such parade,
I begged and entreated that they would suspend the design,
and asked it as a favor, and the matter subsided.
But when I got to the entrance of the city
(06:16):
and the numbers of spectators increased to perhaps seven thousand
or more, they declared they would have the horses out
and would drag me through the city. I repeated my request,
and I was obliged to apply to the leading gentlemen
in the procession to intercede with them not to carry
their designs into execution, as it was very disagreeable to me.
(06:38):
They were at last prevailed upon, and I proceeded. I
was much obliged to them for their good wishes and opinion.
In short, no person could possibly be more notice than myself.
After having roads so fast and so many miles, you
may well think I was much fatigued. But no sooner
had I got into the room of the house, we
were visited by a great number of gentlemen of the
(07:00):
first character in the city, who took up the evening.
About ten o'clock, I sat down to supper of fried oysters, etc.
At eleven o'clock, went to Captain Sears's the King's Inn,
and lodged a rose. At five o'clock went to the
house first mentioned, breakfasted, dressed, and went to the meeting,
(07:21):
where I heard a most excellent sermon by mister Livingston.
Returned to the same house a most elegant dinner provided.
The Grenadier Company of the city is to continue under
arms during our stay here, and we have a guard
of them night and day at our doors. This is
a sad mortification for the Tories. Things look very well here.
(07:44):
Tomorrow morning proposed to cross the ferry, we are to
have a large guard in several boats, and a number
of the city gentlemen will attend over us. I can't
think they will dare attack us. I beg you will
write me, do acquaint me every circumstance relative to that
dear aunt of mine. Write lengthy and often. Mister Nathan
(08:06):
Barrett and mister Buck are here. People move slowly out,
they tell me from Boston, my best respects to mister
and missus. Burr. My poor face and eyes are in
a most shocking situation, burnt up and much swelled and
a little painful. I don't know how to manage with.
It is your father out. As soon as you know,
(08:28):
do acquaint me and send me the letters, and I
will then write him. Pray let me hear from you
by every post. God bless you, my dear girl, and
believe me most sincerely, Yours most affectionately, John Hancock. On
Wednesday the tenth, the delegates from Massachusetts conquered and New York,
(08:50):
fourteen in all, proceeded on their triumphal progress towards Philadelphia.
A great crowd attended them to the North River Ferry,
over which they were escort by five hundred gentlemen and
two hundred militia under arms. On the New Jersey side,
a number of gentlemen, a troop of horse, and a
company of grenadiers accompanied them to Newark, where they were
(09:12):
publicly entertained. Then they were escorted to Elizabethtown, at the
border of which they were met and conducted into the
place by its chief citizens in the military. Similar honors
attended them all the way to Philadelphia. The following account
by Kerwin the Tory in his Journal of May tenth,
seventeen seventy five, gives a graphic, but not entirely flattering
(09:35):
picture of the last stage of the journey. Early in
the morning, a great number of persons rode out several miles,
hearing that the Eastern delegates were approaching. When about eleven
o'clock the cavalcade appeared, I being near the upper end
of four Street. First two or three hundred gentlemen on
horseback proceeded, however, by the newly chosen city military officers
(09:59):
two and two with drawn swords with drawn swords, followed
by John Hancock and Samuel Adams in a phaeton and pair,
the former looking as if his journey and high living
or solicitude to support the dignity of the first man
in Massachusetts had impaired his health. Next came John Adams
and Thomas Cushing in a single horse chase. Behind followed
(10:22):
Robert treat Payne, and after him the New York delegation,
and some from the province of Connecticut, et cetera, et cetera.
The rear was brought up by a hundred carriages. The
streets crowded with people of all ages, sexes, and ranks.
The procession marched with a slow, solemn pace. On its
entrance into the city, all the bells were set ringing
(10:45):
and chiming, and every mark of respect that could be
was expressed, not much, I presume, to the secret liking
of their fellow delegates from the other colonies, who doubtless
had to digest the distinction as best they could. It
was all dear to Hancock's heart, but not to Samuel Adams's, who,
with his democratic proclivities, did not favor such a parade.
(11:08):
As indicated by the account of another and similar occasion,
the people were attempting to take the horses from the
carriage in order to drag it themselves. Mister Adams remonstrated
against it. His companion, pleased with the intended compliment, was
desirous of enjoying it, and endeavored to remove the objection
of mister Adams, to which the last replied, if you
(11:31):
wish to be gratified with so humiliating a spectacle, I
will get out and walk, for I will not countenance
and act by which my fellow citizens shall degrade themselves
into beasts. This prevented its execution. John Adams's sense of
the performance, as recorded in a letter to his wife,
as characteristic of a man who wasted no compliments. P S.
(11:54):
I wish I had given you a complete history from
the beginning to the end of the journey of the
behavior of my compts. No mortal tale can equal it.
I will tell you in the future, but you shall
keep it a secret. The fidgets, the whims, the caprice,
the vanity, the superstition, the irribility of some of us
is enough to yours. How he might have finished the
(12:18):
sentence can be imagined from other letters, one to Warren
for incidents in which he wrote a certain great fortune
and pitdling genius whose fame has been trumpeted so loudly
has given a silly cast to our whole doings. And
again of general lee. He is a queer creature. But
you must love his dogs if you love him, and
(12:38):
forgive a thousand whims for the sake of the soldier
and the scholar. It is fortunate that, in the absence
of other sidelights on this period, the diary of John
Adams is available, as well as the familiar letters to
and from his wife. It is unfortunate that similar correspondence
by less dogmatic and unsparing critics of this episode should
(13:01):
not have been preserved. End of Chapter twelve
Chapter twelve of John Hancock, The Picturesque Patriot by Lorenzo Sears.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. On the
road to Congress, on the twenty fourth of April, the
two delegates arrived at Worcester in advance of three others,
John Adams, Cushing, and pain whence all were to proceed
(00:24):
together under escort. Not finding the rest of the delegation,
Hancock wrote an alarm and uncertainty to the Committee of
Safety at Watertown, whither the Provincial Congress had removed after
the disturbance had conquered Worcester. April twenty fourth, seventeen seventy five,
Monday evening, Gentlemen, mister Samuel Adams and myself just arrived here.
(00:51):
Find no intelligence from you and no guard. We hear
an express has just passed through this place to you
from New York, in form wing that the administration is
bent upon pushing matters, and that four regiments are expected there.
How are we to proceed? Where are our brethren? Surely
we ought to be supported. I had rather be with you,
(01:14):
and at present am fully determined to be with you
before I proceed. I beg by return of this express
to hear from you, and pray furnish us with depositions
of the conduct of the troops, the certainty of their
firing first, and every circumstance relative to the conduct of
the troops from the nineteenth instant to this time, that
(01:36):
we may be able to give some account of matters
as we proceed, especially at Philadelphia. Also, I beg you
would order your secretary to make out an account of
your proceedings, since what has taken place, what your plan is,
what prisoners we have, and what they have of ours? Who,
of note was killed on both sides, who commands our forces, etc?
(02:00):
Are our men in good spirits for God's sake? Do
not suffer the spirit to subside until they have perfected
the reduction of our enemies. Boston must be entered, The
troops must be sent away. Our friends are valuable, but
our country must be saved. I have an interest in
that town. What can be the enjoyment of that town
(02:20):
if I am obliged to hold it at the will
of General Gage or any one else. I doubt not
your vigilance, your fortitude and resolution. Do let us know
how you proceed. We must have the castle stop up
the harbor against large vessels coming. You know better what
to do than I can point out. Where is mister Cushing,
(02:42):
our mister Payne, and mister John Adams? To be with us?
What are we to depend upon? We travel rather as deserters,
which I will not submit to. I will return and
join you if I cannot detain this man, as much
as I want to hear from you. How goes on
the Congress? Who is your president? Are the members hardy?
(03:03):
Pray remember mister Samuel Adams and myself to all friends,
God be with you. I am gentlemen, your faithful and
hardy countryman John Hancock to the gentleman Committee of Safety.
After three days of waiting, Adams and Hancock left Worcester,
reaching Hartford in two days on Saturday the twenty ninth.
(03:25):
There they held a conference with Governor Trumbull and planned
the surprise of Fort Tykwonderoga, which was affected by Ethan
Allen accompanied by Benedict Arnold on the ninth of May.
New York also had the same purpose in mind when
it's Committee of Safety voted that as misterrs Adams and
Hancock are daily expected in this city, the Committee of
(03:46):
Correspondence and intelligence wait on them and request a private
conference on the subject of the above letter which the
Aubany Committee had sent them. But Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont
troops got the start of New York, and then the
next morning, after the conference, the fort was taken before
the commander was fairly awake. When Adams and Hancock reached
(04:07):
King's Bridge on Saturday, May sixth, they found that the
rest of their delegation had passed them somewhere on the
way and had arrived before them. John Adams, who had
been ill with a fever, wrote in his diary, I
was determined to go as far as I could, and
instead of venturing on horseback, I got into a sulky
(04:27):
attended by a servant on horseback, and proceeded on the journey.
I overtook my colleagues before they reached New York. At Kingsbridge,
they were joined by the Connecticut delegation and made their
entry into New York in the manner described by Hancock
in the following letter to Dorothy Quincy, New York, Sabbath
(04:47):
evening May seventh, seventeen seventy five, My dear Dolly, I
arrived well, though fatigued at King's Bridge at fifteen minutes
after two o'clock yesterday were I found the delegates of
Massachusetts and Connecticut, with a number of gentlemen from New
York and a guard of the troop. I dined and
then set out in the procession for New York, the
(05:10):
carriage of your humble servant, of course, being first in
the procession. When we arrived within three miles of the city,
we were met by the Grenadier Company and regiment of
the city militia under arms, gentlemen in carriages and on horseback,
and many thousands of persons on foot. The roads filled
with people, and the greatest cloud of dust I ever saw.
(05:32):
In this situation. We entered the city, and, passing through
the principal streets of New York, amidst the acclamations of thousands,
were set down at mister Francis's. After entering the house,
three hussahs were given and the people by degrees dispersed.
When I got within a mile of the city, my
carriage was stopped, and persons appearing with proper harnesses, insisted
(05:56):
upon taking out my horses and dragging me into and
through the city, a circumstance I would not have had
taken place upon any consideration, not being fond of such parade,
I begged and entreated that they would suspend the design,
and asked it as a favor, and the matter subsided.
But when I got to the entrance of the city
(06:16):
and the numbers of spectators increased to perhaps seven thousand
or more, they declared they would have the horses out
and would drag me through the city. I repeated my request,
and I was obliged to apply to the leading gentlemen
in the procession to intercede with them not to carry
their designs into execution, as it was very disagreeable to me.
(06:38):
They were at last prevailed upon, and I proceeded. I
was much obliged to them for their good wishes and opinion.
In short, no person could possibly be more notice than myself.
After having roads so fast and so many miles, you
may well think I was much fatigued. But no sooner
had I got into the room of the house, we
were visited by a great number of gentlemen of the
(07:00):
first character in the city, who took up the evening.
About ten o'clock, I sat down to supper of fried oysters, etc.
At eleven o'clock, went to Captain Sears's the King's Inn,
and lodged a rose. At five o'clock went to the
house first mentioned, breakfasted, dressed, and went to the meeting,
(07:21):
where I heard a most excellent sermon by mister Livingston.
Returned to the same house a most elegant dinner provided.
The Grenadier Company of the city is to continue under
arms during our stay here, and we have a guard
of them night and day at our doors. This is
a sad mortification for the Tories. Things look very well here.
(07:44):
Tomorrow morning proposed to cross the ferry, we are to
have a large guard in several boats, and a number
of the city gentlemen will attend over us. I can't
think they will dare attack us. I beg you will
write me, do acquaint me every circumstance relative to that
dear aunt of mine. Write lengthy and often. Mister Nathan
(08:06):
Barrett and mister Buck are here. People move slowly out,
they tell me from Boston, my best respects to mister
and missus. Burr. My poor face and eyes are in
a most shocking situation, burnt up and much swelled and
a little painful. I don't know how to manage with.
It is your father out. As soon as you know,
(08:28):
do acquaint me and send me the letters, and I
will then write him. Pray let me hear from you
by every post. God bless you, my dear girl, and
believe me most sincerely, Yours most affectionately, John Hancock. On
Wednesday the tenth, the delegates from Massachusetts conquered and New York,
(08:50):
fourteen in all, proceeded on their triumphal progress towards Philadelphia.
A great crowd attended them to the North River Ferry,
over which they were escort by five hundred gentlemen and
two hundred militia under arms. On the New Jersey side,
a number of gentlemen, a troop of horse, and a
company of grenadiers accompanied them to Newark, where they were
(09:12):
publicly entertained. Then they were escorted to Elizabethtown, at the
border of which they were met and conducted into the
place by its chief citizens in the military. Similar honors
attended them all the way to Philadelphia. The following account
by Kerwin the Tory in his Journal of May tenth,
seventeen seventy five, gives a graphic, but not entirely flattering
(09:35):
picture of the last stage of the journey. Early in
the morning, a great number of persons rode out several miles,
hearing that the Eastern delegates were approaching. When about eleven
o'clock the cavalcade appeared, I being near the upper end
of four Street. First two or three hundred gentlemen on
horseback proceeded, however, by the newly chosen city military officers
(09:59):
two and two with drawn swords with drawn swords, followed
by John Hancock and Samuel Adams in a phaeton and pair,
the former looking as if his journey and high living
or solicitude to support the dignity of the first man
in Massachusetts had impaired his health. Next came John Adams
and Thomas Cushing in a single horse chase. Behind followed
(10:22):
Robert treat Payne, and after him the New York delegation,
and some from the province of Connecticut, et cetera, et cetera.
The rear was brought up by a hundred carriages. The
streets crowded with people of all ages, sexes, and ranks.
The procession marched with a slow, solemn pace. On its
entrance into the city, all the bells were set ringing
(10:45):
and chiming, and every mark of respect that could be
was expressed, not much, I presume, to the secret liking
of their fellow delegates from the other colonies, who doubtless
had to digest the distinction as best they could. It
was all dear to Hancock's heart, but not to Samuel Adams's, who,
with his democratic proclivities, did not favor such a parade.
(11:08):
As indicated by the account of another and similar occasion,
the people were attempting to take the horses from the
carriage in order to drag it themselves. Mister Adams remonstrated
against it. His companion, pleased with the intended compliment, was
desirous of enjoying it, and endeavored to remove the objection
of mister Adams, to which the last replied, if you
(11:31):
wish to be gratified with so humiliating a spectacle, I
will get out and walk, for I will not countenance
and act by which my fellow citizens shall degrade themselves
into beasts. This prevented its execution. John Adams's sense of
the performance, as recorded in a letter to his wife,
as characteristic of a man who wasted no compliments. P S.
(11:54):
I wish I had given you a complete history from
the beginning to the end of the journey of the
behavior of my compts. No mortal tale can equal it.
I will tell you in the future, but you shall
keep it a secret. The fidgets, the whims, the caprice,
the vanity, the superstition, the irribility of some of us
is enough to yours. How he might have finished the
(12:18):
sentence can be imagined from other letters, one to Warren
for incidents in which he wrote a certain great fortune
and pitdling genius whose fame has been trumpeted so loudly
has given a silly cast to our whole doings. And
again of general lee. He is a queer creature. But
you must love his dogs if you love him, and
(12:38):
forgive a thousand whims for the sake of the soldier
and the scholar. It is fortunate that, in the absence
of other sidelights on this period, the diary of John
Adams is available, as well as the familiar letters to
and from his wife. It is unfortunate that similar correspondence
by less dogmatic and unsparing critics of this episode should
(13:01):
not have been preserved. End of Chapter twelve
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.