Question: Who was the president of the body that petitioned the king of England to recognize the rights of colonists when the declaration of independence was adopted?

full_context: Document 1: United States Postmaster General: The office, in one form or another, is older than both the United States Constitution and the United States Declaration of Independence. Benjamin Franklin was appointed by the Continental Congress as the first Postmaster General in 1775, serving just over 15 months.
Document 2: President of the Continental Congress: Fourteen men served as president of Congress. The first was Peyton Randolph, who was elected on September 5, 1774. The last president, Cyrus Griffin, resigned in November 1788. President John Hancock is remembered for his large, bold signature on the Declaration of Independence, which was adopted and signed during his presidency.
Document 3: Boston Tea Party: Boston Tea Party Part of the American Revolution Source: W.D. Cooper. Boston Tea Party in The History of North America. London: E. Newberry, 1789. Engraving. Plate opposite p. 58. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (40) Date December 16, 1773 Location Boston, Province of Massachusetts Bay Caused by Tea Act Goals To protest British Parliament's tax on tea. ``No taxation without representation. ''Methods Throw the tea into Boston Harbor Resulted in Intolerable Acts Parties to the civil conflict Thirteen Colonies People of Boston Great Britain East India Company Parliament Lead figures Samuel Adams Paul Revere William Molineux and other`` Sons of Liberty''... N / A
Document 4: Boston Tea Party: Boston Tea Party Part of the American Revolution Source: W.D. Cooper. ``Boston Tea Party. '', The History of North America. London: E. Newberry, 1789. Engraving. Plate opposite p. 58. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (40) Date 16 December 1773 Location Boston, Province of Massachusetts Bay Caused by Tea Act Goals To protest British Parliament's tax on tea.`` No taxation without representation.'' Methods Throw the tea into Boston Harbor Resulted in Intolerable Acts Parties to the civil conflict Thirteen Colonies People of Boston Great Britain East India Company Parliament Lead figures Samuel Adams Paul Revere William Molineux and other ``Sons of Liberty ''... N / A
Document 5: United States Declaration of Independence: The Declaration of Independence is the statement adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with the Kingdom of Great Britain, regarded themselves as thirteen independent sovereign states, no longer under British rule. These states would found a new nation -- the United States of America. John Adams was a leader in pushing for independence, which was passed on July 2 with no opposing vote cast. A committee of five had already drafted the formal declaration, to be ready when Congress voted on independence.
Document 6: Signing of the United States Declaration of Independence: The most famous signature on the engrossed copy is that of John Hancock, who presumably signed first as President of Congress. Hancock's large, flamboyant signature became iconic, and John Hancock emerged in the United States as an informal synonym for ``signature ''. Future presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were among the signatories. Edward Rutledge (age 26) was the youngest signer and Benjamin Franklin (age 70) the oldest.
Document 7: President of the Continental Congress: The president of the Continental Congress was the presiding officer of the Continental Congress, the convention of delegates that emerged as the first national government of the United States during the American Revolution. The president was a member of Congress elected by the other delegates to serve as an impartial moderator during meetings of Congress. Designed to be a largely ceremonial position without much influence, the office was unrelated to the later office of President of the United States.
Document 8: British Empire: During the 1760s and early 1770s, relations between the Thirteen Colonies and Britain became increasingly strained, primarily because of resentment of the British Parliament's attempts to govern and tax American colonists without their consent. This was summarised at the time by the slogan "No taxation without representation", a perceived violation of the guaranteed Rights of Englishmen. The American Revolution began with rejection of Parliamentary authority and moves towards self-government. In response, Britain sent troops to reimpose direct rule, leading to the outbreak of war in 1775. The following year, in 1776, the United States declared independence. The entry of France into the war in 1778 tipped the military balance in the Americans' favour and after a decisive defeat at Yorktown in 1781, Britain began negotiating peace terms. American independence was acknowledged at the Peace of Paris in 1783.
Document 9: American tea culture: However, tea and tea taxes became a bone of contention between the American Colonies and Great Britain. This led to the 1773 Boston Tea Party, a precipitating event of the Revolution, when angry Colonists destroyed the tea cargo of three British ships by dumping them into Boston Harbor. As a consequence, tea drinking became unpatriotic. Boycotts of tea led to an increase in consumption of other beverages, such as coffee or herbal teas infused with peppermint, sage or dandelions.
Document 10: Sons of Liberty: In 1765, the British government needed money to afford the 10,000 officers and soldiers living in the colonies, and intended that the colonists living there should contribute. The British passed a series of taxes aimed at the colonists, and many of the colonists refused to pay certain taxes; they argued that they should not be held accountable for taxes which were decided upon without any form of their consent through a representative. This became commonly known as ``No Taxation without Representation. ''Parliament insisted on its right to rule the colonies despite the fact that the colonists had no representative in Parliament. The most incendiary tax was the Stamp Act of 1765, which caused a firestorm of opposition through legislative resolutions (starting in the colony of Virginia), public demonstrations, threats, and occasional hurtful losses.
Document 11: Second Continental Congress: The Second Continental Congress came together on May 10, 1775, effectively reconvening the First Continental Congress. Many of the 56 delegates who attended the first meeting were in attendance at the second, and the delegates appointed the same president (Peyton Randolph) and secretary (Charles Thomson). Notable new arrivals included Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania and John Hancock of Massachusetts. Within two weeks, Randolph was summoned back to Virginia to preside over the House of Burgesses; he was replaced in the Virginia delegation by Thomas Jefferson, who arrived several weeks later. Henry Middleton was elected as president to replace Randolph, but he declined. Hancock was elected president on May 24.
Document 12: Intolerable Acts: The Intolerable Acts were the American Patriots' term for a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. They were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance of throwing a large tea shipment into Boston Harbor in reaction to changes in taxation by the British to the detriment of Colonial goods. In Great Britain, these laws were referred to as the Coercive Acts.
Document 13: Petition to the King: Many colonists in the Americas, however, developed a different conception of their role within the British Empire. In particular, because the colonies were not directly represented in Parliament, colonists argued that Parliament had no right to levy taxes upon them. After colonists destroyed thousands of pounds of British - taxed tea during the Boston Tea Party, Parliament passed the Coercive Acts in 1774, punishing the colonies for their actions. These punitive Acts were vehemently opposed by the colonists, leading the newly formed Continental Congress to seek redress with King George III, in an attempt to reach a common understanding.
Document 14: United States Declaration of Independence: The Declaration became official when Congress voted for it on July 4; signatures of the delegates were not needed to make it official. The handwritten copy of the Declaration of Independence that was signed by Congress is dated July 4, 1776. The signatures of fifty - six delegates are affixed; however, the exact date when each person signed it has long been the subject of debate. Jefferson, Franklin, and Adams all wrote that the Declaration had been signed by Congress on July 4. But in 1796, signer Thomas McKean disputed that the Declaration had been signed on July 4, pointing out that some signers were not then present, including several who were not even elected to Congress until after that date.
Document 15: Signing of the United States Declaration of Independence: The signing of the United States Declaration of Independence occurred (primarily) on August 2, 1776 at the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The 56 delegates to the Second Continental Congress represented the 13 former colonies which had declared themselves the ``United States of America, ''and they endorsed the Declaration of Independence which the Congress had approved on July 4, 1776. The Declaration proclaimed that the Thirteen Colonies then at war with Great Britain were now sovereign states and thus no longer a part of the British Empire. The signers' names are grouped by state, with the exception of President of the Continental Congress John Hancock; the states are arranged geographically from north to south.
ground_truth: President John Hancock
sub_queries: who petitioned the king of england to recognize the rights of colonists Answer: Continental Congress
who was the president of Continental Congress when the declaration of independence was adopted Answer: President John Hancock