Founding Father: Who Was John Hancock?

04/22/24 • 40 min

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An iconic signature on the Declaration of Independence - that is what John Hancock is best known for. But how did he come to be the first signatory? What was his role in the American Revolution?

Brooke Barbier joins Don in this episode to take us through the life and works of John Hancock, and to explain how he got the nickname, 'King Hancock'.

Brooke is the author of ‘Boston in the American Revolution’ and ‘King Hancock: The Radical Influence of a Moderate Founding Father’. She also founded 'Ye Old Tavern Tours', a private tour company in Boston.

Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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You can take part in our listener survey here.

An iconic signature on the Declaration of Independence - that is what John Hancock is best known for. But how did he come to be the first signatory? What was his role in the American Revolution?

Brooke Barbier joins Don in this episode to take us through the life and works of John Hancock, and to explain how he got the nickname, 'King Hancock'.

Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

You can take part in our listener survey here.

Previous Episode

The 1921 Murder Farm Massacre: Slavery After the Civil War

During the spring of 1921, eleven bodies were found in in rural Georgia. These men were victims of horrific murders, and also of a more widespread crime - peonage.

Whilst enslavement had legally ended with the surrender at Appomattox and the 13th Amendment, black people across the south were still being entrapped into debt slavery half a century later, in the Twentieth Century.

To find out more about this, and about what drove these men's murderer to his crimes, Don speaks to Earl Swift, author of 'Hell Put to Shame: The 1921 Murder Farm Massacre and the Horror of America's Second Slavery.'

Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

You can take part in our listener survey here.

Next Episode

President Rutherford B. Hayes: The First Great Depression

Emerging victorious from an electoral quagmire in 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes became the 19th President of the United States.

Professor Mark Zachary Taylor joins Don to explore the first great depression and how Hayes navigated the US towards recovery from it.

From strike and unrest to growth and stability, how did Hayes lay the groundwork for economic prosperity?

Produced by Freddy Chick. Edited by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

You can take part in our listener survey here.

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