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HANCOCK, JOHN

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22. JOHN HANCOCK (1737 - 1793) American Revolutionary politician and first signer of the Declaration of Independence, President of the Continental Congress and two-time Governor of Massachusetts. War-date A.L.S. "J.H." as Governor of Massachusetts, 1p. 4to., Boston, Nov. 2, 1781, his draft of a message for the State Senate and House of Representatives. Hancock refuses to approve a resolve concerning the estate of an absentee landlord, in part: "...The Secretary has laid before me a Resolve which pass'd the Two Houses...determining the House lately Occupied be Benjamin Hallowell...I have reason to think that the House & Land are not [his] property, under these circumstances it cannot be Expected that I should give my Sanction to the Resolve..." Hancock has crossed out two later paragraphs in which he seems to criticize the ability of the General Court to ascertain the values of estates, stating that the intended lease cost would be inadequate. He instead opts for a more diplomatic out: "...Lest I should Injure the Creditors of the late Benjamin Hallowell..." Top horizontal fold separated, and other is weak, both reinforced with archival tape on verso, else very good. $2,500-3,500

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