🔔The Liberty Bell

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — Cracked Symbol of American Independence

The Liberty Bell is one of the most enduring symbols of American independence, instantly recognizable by the jagged crack that runs down its side. Originally commissioned in 1752 for the Pennsylvania State House — now Independence Hall — the bell is believed to have rung on July 8, 1776, summoning citizens to the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence.

A Bell for the State House

In 1751, the Pennsylvania Assembly ordered a new bell from the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London to hang in the tower of the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia. The bell was inscribed with a line from the Book of Leviticus: "Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof." The verse was chosen to commemorate the 50th anniversary of William Penn's Charter of Privileges, which had guaranteed certain civil liberties to Pennsylvania colonists in 1701.

The bell arrived in Philadelphia in 1752 — and cracked on its very first test ring. Local foundrymen John Pass and John Stow melted down the bell and recast it twice in 1753, adding copper to the alloy in an attempt to strengthen it. Their names appear on the bell as "PASS AND STOW, PHILADA MDCCLIII."

The Declaration of Independence

For decades, the bell rang to summon Pennsylvania legislators to sessions and to alert citizens to public readings and announcements. The famous — but probably mythologized — story holds that the bell rang on July 8, 1776, calling citizens to the State House yard to hear the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence. There is no contemporary evidence confirming which specific bell rang that day; the story took on its modern form in the 1840s. Whether or not the bell rang on that particular occasion, it certainly rang frequently during the Revolutionary era.

When British forces threatened Philadelphia in 1777, the bell was hastily removed and hidden under the floorboards of a church in Allentown to prevent the British from melting it down for munitions. It was returned to Philadelphia after the British left in 1778.

The Famous Crack

The bell developed a small crack sometime in the early 19th century. The more dramatic, jagged crack visible today came from an attempted repair in the early 1840s. Workers drilled along the existing crack to prevent it from spreading and to restore the bell's tone — a technique called "stop drilling." The repair failed. Within a few years, a second crack developed along one of the drilled edges, and the bell was eventually retired from active ringing around 1846.

The bell's famous name — the Liberty Bell — was not actually used until the 1830s, when abolitionists adopted the bell as a symbol of the fight to end slavery. The inscription about proclaiming liberty "unto all the inhabitants" took on new meaning in the abolitionist movement.

A Traveling Symbol

Between 1885 and 1915, the Liberty Bell traveled to world's fairs and expositions across the country, carried by rail on an open flatcar. Millions of Americans saw the bell on these trips. The tours were ended in 1915 when examination revealed that the vibrations of rail travel were extending the crack. The bell has not left Philadelphia since.

At Its Current Home

For much of the 20th century, the Liberty Bell hung in the tower of Independence Hall. In 1976, to accommodate growing crowds visiting during the Bicentennial, the bell was moved into a glass pavilion across the street. In 2003, it moved again to the Liberty Bell Center, a purpose-built facility where it is viewed by more than two million visitors a year. The bell is positioned so that visitors see it framed against a window looking back at Independence Hall.

Liberty Bell Facts

• The bell has not been rung as a working bell in roughly 180 years — though it is still tapped gently on symbolic occasions.
• The word "Pennsylvania" is misspelled on the bell as "Pensylvania" (with one "n") — an acceptable spelling at the time.
• On D-Day, June 6, 1944, the bell was tapped seven times and the sound was broadcast across the country by radio.
• There are numerous replicas of the Liberty Bell, including one in each state, cast in 1950 to promote U.S. Savings Bonds.
• The Liberty Bell Center is free to visit year-round, operated by the National Park Service.