Political Moderation as a Stabilizing Force in a Time of Rebellion: John Handcock 

During the 1760s and 1770s, the colonists in British North America faced a crisis, both at home and abroad. The crown was increasingly threatening colonists' right to self-governance, but not everyone agreed about how and when to rebel. Radicals pushed change forward, but political moderate John Hancock, and others like him, offered stability to the revolutionary movement and had a profound influence on pivotal events, including authorizing the Declaration of Independence and ratifying the Constitution.