Birthdays John Hancock

Hancock is best-remembered for his large, flamboyant signature on the Declaration of Independence, so much so that "John Hancock" has become, in the United States, an informal synonym for "signature".^[11] Myth and misconception surround Hancock's signing of the Declaration. According a popular legend, Hancock signed his name largely and clearly so that King George could read it without his spectacles, but this fanciful story did not appear until many years later.^[12] Another misconception is that Hancock was the only one to sign the Declaration on July 4 1776, and that others signed the document later, but this confuses two events and two different documents. Congress approved the wording of the Declaration on July 4 and then sent it to the printer. Whether Hancock or anyone else signed the document that was sent to the printer is unknown, because that document is lost, presumably destroyed in the printing process.^[13] The printer produced the first published version of the Declaration, the widely distributed Dunlap broadside, and Hancock, as President of Congress, was the only congressman whose name appeared on it. Hancock's name was printed, not signed, on the Dunlap broadside: his famous signature appears on a different document—a sheet of parchment that was engrossed (carefully handwritten) sometime after July 19 and signed on August 2 by Hancock and those delegates present.^[14] This is the copy of the Declaration of Independence on display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.