Liberty Bell facts for kids
The Liberty Bell is an important and famous symbol of American independence (freedom). It used to be in the Pennsylvania State House (now known as Independence Hall). The bell was ordered from the London firm of Lester and Pack (which is known as the Whitechapel Bell Foundry today) in 1752. It had the letters "Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." This was a part of Leviticus 25:10. It first cracked when it was first rung when it came to Philadelphia, and was made again twice by John Pass and John Stow, two workmen. When it was first made, the Liberty Bell was used to make lawmakers come to legislative meetings. It was also used to call people to public meetings.
Bells were rung when the Declaration of Independence was read on July 8, 1776. While there is no record that the Liberty Bell was rung, most historians believe it was rung with the other bells. In the 1830's, the bell was used as a symbol by abolitionist societies, who called it the "Liberty Bell". The bell got its large, well-known crack in the early 19th century. One story claims it was cracked while ringing after Chief Justice John Marshall died in 1835.
The bell became widely famous after a short story in 1847 claimed that an old bell-ringer rang it on July 4, 1776, after hearing the Second Continental Congress's vote for independence. Actually, the bell could not have been rung on that Fourth of July, because no announcement of the Declaration was made that day. However, many people believed this story. Even some historians accepted it as a fact. From the 1885, the City of Philadelphia, which owned the bell, allowed it to go to many different patriotic meetings. Many people came to see the bell, and it grew even more cracked. Pieces were broken off by souvenir hunters. The last such journey was in 1915. After that, the city refused any more requests of that kind.
Founding (1751–1753)
Ever since the city began in 1682, Philadelphia had been using its city bell to make its people know about meetings or civil danger. The first bell hung from a tree behind the Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall. In 1751, a bell tower was built in the Pennsylvania State House, and the leaders there began looking for a bell which could be heard from far away (the city was growing larger quickly). Isaac Norris, speaker of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly, ordered the colony's London agent, Robert Charles, to get a "good Bell of about two thousands pound weight".
We hope and rely (trust) on thy (your) care and assistance (help) in this affair and that thou (you) wilt (will) procure (get) and forward it by the first good oppo as our workmen inform us it will be much less trouble to hang the Bell before their Scaffolds are struck from the Building where we intend (wish) to place it which will not be done 'till the end of next Summer or beginning of the Fall. Let the bell be cast by the best workmen & examined carefully before it is Shipped with the following words well shaped around it vizt.
By Order of the Assembly of the Povince [sic] of Pensylvania [sic] for the State house in the City of Philada 1752
and Underneath
Proclaim Liberty thro' all the Land to all the Inhabitants thereof.-Levit. XXV. 10.
So Charles paid Lester and Pack (today the Whitechapel Bell Foundry) £150 13s 8d, (the same amount of money as about $36,400 today) for the bell, including the cost of taking it to Philadelphia and its insurance. It arrived in Philadelphia in August 1752.
Becoming a symbol (1847–1865)
A big reason why the bell became famous was because of a writer named George Lippard. On January 2, 1847, his story "Fourth of July, 1776" appeared in Saturday Review magazine. The short story was about an old man on July 4, 1776. It described how he was sitting sadly by the bell, afraid that Congress would not be able to declare independence. Suddenly, a young boy comes to tell the old man to ring the bell. The story was widely reprinted. This made people think of the Liberty Bell and the Declaration of Independence as closely related.
Related pages
- The Mercury spacecraft that Gus Grissom, an astronaut, flew on July 21, 1961, was called Liberty Bell 7. The capsules looked a bit like bells, and they painted a crack on it so that it would look like the original Liberty Bell. Liberty Bell 7 became the only Mercury capsule to suffer an integrity failure.
- Margaret Buechner made a work for chorus and orchestra, "Liberty Bell", that uses a 1959 recording of the actual bell made by Columbia Records.
- The superhero Liberty Belle's powers come from the ringing of the bell.
Images for kids
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Pennsylvania State House as it appeared in the 1770s
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The Liberty Bell's arrival at Zion Reformed Church in Allentown, Pennsylvania on September 24, 1777 is depicted in this watercolor painting. The Liberty Bell was hidden in Allentown for nine months until its June 27, 1778 return to Philadelphia
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The Liberty Bell on its ornate stand in Independence Hall, 1872
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The Liberty Bell visits Bunker Hill in Boston, 1903
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The Liberty Bell is paraded through the streets of Philadelphia in 1908, in a recreation of its 1777 journey to Allentown.
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The Bell's First Note, a 1913 painting of the Liberty Bell by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris
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A crowd of tourists gathers around the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, July 1951
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The Liberty Bell Pavilion in Philadelphia, the Liberty Bell's home from 1976 to 2003
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The interior of the Liberty Bell chamber at the Liberty Bell Center. Independence Hall is in the background with the Liberty Bell visible in its steeple.
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Independence Hall with the Liberty Bell Center to the right, August 2004
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South end of Liberty Bell Center with both the Liberty Bell and a reflection of Independence Hall, January 2022
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A view of the Liberty Bell's mount, October 2009
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See also
In Spanish: Campana de la Libertad para niños
