John Hancock’s Original, Ornate, Large Format Diploma from Yale in 1769, Acquired from the Quincy Family Heirs

The location, and indeed the survival, of the original was unknown until now

 

The diploma he received a Master of Arts degree “ad eundem gradum”

Before the American Revolution, John Hancock was one of the wealthiest men in the Colonies, having inherited a profitable mercantile business from his uncle. He began his political career in Boston as a protégé of Samuel Adams, an influential local politician. Hancock used his wealth to support the colonial cause as tensions increased between colonists and Great Britain in the 1760s. He became very popular in Massachusetts, especially after British officials seized his sloop Liberty in 1768 and charged him with smuggling.

In 1778, Hancock found himself in legal trouble against the crown, a protracted admiralty case, Advocate General Jonathan Sewall v. John Hancock.  It would eventually be dropped. He was represented by John Adams. It followed the seizure in Boston harbor of Hancock’s sloop Liberty, June 10, 1768, by members of the crew of the Romney man-of-war at the instance of the new board of customs commissioners, not for smuggling but for failing to obtain a permit for a cargo it had loaded. The Liberty was condemned in August and sold in September. The following month, after British troops had garrisoned Boston (also at the behest of the customs commissioners), a suit was filed against Hancock, not by a grand jury indictment but by an “information” and an admiralty court order, for the enormous sum of £9,000.

John Hancock famously graduated from Harvard University. However, it seems he wanted his credentials to go beyond Harvard. In the 18th century colleges had, on occasion, a practice of granting degrees “ad eundem gradum”. An “ad eundem gradum” degree, meaning “at the same degree” in Latin, is a degree awarded by one university or college to an alumnus of another, recognizing their prior formal learning and awarding them a comparable degree without requiring further study or examination. Princeton was one institution that did this, and Yale was another. The individuals would apply to the College of New Jersey [Princeton] or Yale for the degree and submit proof of their original degree and also a fee for the “ad eundem” degree.

Hancock approached Yale in 1769 to award him such a degree. In 1769 Yale awarded two of these degrees, one to Hancock and one to Jonathan Edwards, Jr., pastor and son of famed minister Jonathan Edwards (who was a Yale alum).

Beautiful, ornate document signed, by the President and Associates of the University in 1769, in Latin, September 13, 1769, ornately decorated with the seal of Yale, reading Law and Truth.  “The Presidents and Associates to the College of Yale at New Haven in Connecticut; To all those reading these letters, Greetings in God; Let it be known to you, that it pleases us that John Hancock, Esquire, of Boston, Master of Arts from Harvard College in Cambridge, a man of good reputation, high morals, honored in the arts, generous patron in deed of the liberal arts… be admitted to this college to the same degree (ad ended grades).  In evidence of which we affix the general seal of Yale College, in our names, to these masters letters patent.”

Foremost among the signers is Naphtali Daggett, who in 1756 was inducted as Yale’s first full professor – officially the Livingstonian Professor of Divinity. Daggett became the college’s president pro tempore in 1766 after the resignation of President Clap. Daggett held the office of President for the next eleven years, until 1777. Also signing were pastors and fellows of the Corporation of Yale College: Thomas Ruggles, Jr., Elnathan Whitman, Moses Dickinson, Nouchus Hobart, Edward Eells, and Eliphalet Williams.

The location, and indeed the survival, of the original of John Hancock’s degree was unknown until now. We discovered it with a descendant of the Quincy family. John Hancock was married to Dorothy Quincy. John and Dorothy had no surviving children so the diploma passed down through the Quincy family. It ranks as one of our most important discoveries ever. It has never been offered for sale before.

We are not aware of any diploma of a Founding Father having reached the market.