The Liberty Bell is a historic relic in Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia. First hung in Independence Hall in 1753, it bore the inscription, “Proclaim Liberty throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants Thereof” (Lev. 25.10); thus it was fitting that the bell was rung in July, 1776, to proclaim the Declaration of Independence. Taken to Allentown and hidden (1777-78) during the British occupation of Philadelphia, it was later brought back. In 1781 it was moved from the steeple to the hall's brick tower. It was cracked in 1835 tolling the death of John Marshall and again in 1846.

The Bell achieved an iconic status when abolitionists adopted the Bell as a symbol for the movement. It was first used in this association as a frontispiece to an 1837 edition of Liberty, published by the New York Anti-Slavery Society. In retrospect, it is a remarkably apt metaphor for a country literally cracked and freedom fissured for its black inhabitants. William Lloyd Garrison's anti-slavery publication The Liberator reprinted a Boston abolitionist pamphlet containing a poem about the Bell, entitled, The Liberty Bell, which represents the first documented use of the name, "Liberty Bell."

The Liberty Bell Pavilion was opened in 1976, in preparation for the nation's bicentennial celebrations. Now, on every Fourth of July, the bell is rung (symbolically tapped), in unison with thousands of bells across the nation.

Source: The Liberty Bell Pavillion

TOP