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Why did John Hancock go down in history as the notable signer of the Declaration of Independence?

John Hancock (1737–1793) was president of the Second Continental Congress and therefore the first delegate to sign the Declaration of Independence. Today, when Americans say they are putting their "John Hancock" on something, they mean they are signing a document.

On July 2, 1776, Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) presented the draft (first version) of the declaration to the Second Continental Congress, which had convened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, more than a year earlier, on May 10, 1775. The Second Continental Congress was the second meeting—the first was the First Continental Congress (1774)—called by American colonial leaders to plan a response to attempts by the British Parliament (main governing body of Great Britain) to assert its control over the thirteen colonies. (The thirteen colonies...

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