1783 Gubernatorial Election: Hancock vs Everybody

THE FOLLOWING CONTEST, SCHEDULED FOR ONE TERM, IS FOR THE 1783 GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION! INTRODUCING FIRST....HE IS THE CURRENT, REIGNING, DEFENDING, UNDISPUTED GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS....JOHNNNNNNN HANCOCK!

                                                                     The Incumbent

AND HIS OPPONENT........EVERYBODY!!! Wait, what? Oh do I have a story for you. But first, what was going on in or by April of 1783? Well, slavery was unofficially abolished. How? There had been a few cases where slaves had been illegally transferred to other masters and the Massachusetts legal system led by future governor Caleb Strong and Theodore Sedgwick, successfully argued for the slaves' rights to be free. The two most important cases where the Mum Bett Case of 1781 and the Quock Walker case that would be decided by the Supreme Court the same month as the 1783 election. Without anyone seeming to notice, the Massachusetts Constitution pretty much outlawed slavery in the state by crippling the owners' rights. By 1790 the MA census declared no slaves lived in Massachusetts. The rest of the country would have their own Constitutions and later a federal one would be drafted, but MA said slavery can piss off shortly after becoming a state. A big W for Massachusetts.

                         "We don't take kindly to slave owners around here!" - Teddy Sedgwick

A month earlier, the US warship Alliance outgunned the HMS Sybil in a rare occasion where an American ship defeated a British warship during the Revolutionary War. The British still controlled the sea but the Americans were doing just enough to keep British soldiers from entering the country in droves. In fact, by 1783 the British Parliament was growing increasingly impatient with the army failing to quell the uprising in the colonies. It had been 8 years since John Parker and his militia men stood on the Concord bridge and opened fire on Colonel Francis Smith's British troops that had come to seize their arms. Even though it came at a tremendous price for the Americans (a story for another time), it also came at a tremendous price for Great Britain. Especially with France more than happy to assist another country in a cause against the British.

     "We'll take your cleats and shove them where the sun don't shine!" - Captain John Barry

Serious peace talks began in November 1782 and Congress would ratify the peace treaty just over a week after the 1783 MA election. The War was coming to an end but the election was coming up. Who was going to run against John Hancock? Officially.....NO ONE! Both Lt Governor Thomas Cushing and James Bowdoin got thoroughly dominated in the first three elections so neither of them were going to seriously challenge Hancock. What that left was one large write-in campaign. You want to face the mighty Hancock? Go ahead, see how that turns out.

                                                     Hancock vs.......whoever you want! Fight!

Not surprisingly, ITS ANOTHER LANDSLIDE! Hancock by himself got 73% of the vote with 6,693 of them. The write-ins combined got 2,415 votes, good for the remaining 27 percent. Since there wasn't one singular candidate running against Hancock, there wasn't even an election map to show Hancock's dominance. Just eight days after Hancock's victory, Congress approved the peace treaty to effectively end the Revolutionary War. Even though the treaty wouldn't be signed until September, the War was basically over. Hancock was now four for four in elections, David Ortiz could be proud of that.

                  Winner.....ANDDD STILLLLLLL....Governor.......Johnnnn Hancock!