John Hanson (died c. 1860) was a politician in Liberia. He served in Colonial Council and as a senator from Grand Bassa County following Liberia's independence in 1847.

Hanson was born into slavery, but purchased his freedom and emigrated from Baltimore to Liberia aged 36.Dinius, Marcy J. "The Camera and the Press" pg. 182 In Liberia, he joined the growing mercantile class. He also served as Commissary in the same county for several years, furnishing a house for the storage of arms and ammunition."The Statute Laws of the Republic of Liberia" Vol. I, pg. 233 Hanson died in 1860, and was mourned as a "faithful and patriotic servant" by Liberian president Stephen Allen Benson.

Senator Hanson has sometimes been misidentified as being John Hanson of Maryland, a white politician who served as a President of the Continental Congress during the American Revolution.

References