objection
to his suit would make any difference in its final outcome. He and
Dorothy loved each other--that was all that really mattered. He
sincerely hoped that her father would come to approve of the match,
for he would ever consider, he said, Dorothy's happiness before his
own. But he clearly stated that he should stand by those words and
deeds of the radical party which he believed best for the colonies,
despite any effort which might be made to change any of his opinions;
also he was going to marry Dorothy. Evidently his determination won
the Judge's consent, and in giving it he smothered his objections, for
there was no further opposition to the match, and no courtship ever
gave clearer evidence of an intense devotion on both sides than that
of Hancock and Dorothy, who, being ten years younger than her Hero,
looked up to him as to some great and superior being worthy of her
heart's supreme devotion.

Political events of vital importance to the colonies happened in swift
succession, and Dorothy's Hancock quickly took his place in the front
rank of those who were to be the backbone in the colonies' struggle
for liberty, although at that time his activity against English
injustice was largely due to his wish to protect his own business
interests. In 1765 the Stamp Act was passed, and John Hancock openly
denounced it and declared he would not use the stamps.

"I will not be made a slave without my consent," he said. "Not a man
in England, in proportion to estate, pays the tax that I do."

And he stood by that declaration, becoming generally recognized as a
man of ability and of great power, on whom public duties and
responsibilities could be placed with assurance that they would be
successfully carried out. While he was deeply occupied with colonial
affairs Dorothy Quincy was busy in her home with those duties and
diversions which formed the greater part of a young woman's daily life
in those days, but always in spirit she was with her lover, and she
thrilled with pride at each new proof of his fearlessness and growing
patriotism.

In September, 1768, when it was rumored that troops had been ordered
from Halifax, in an attempt of England to quell the spirit of
independence rife among her colonists, Samuel Adams, John Hancock,
John Adams, and James Otis waited upon the Governor to ask if the
report were true, and to request him to call a special meeting of the
Assembly. He declined to do it, and a meeting of prote