The
Liberty Bell is a pre-Revolutionary War relic that was first
hung in 1753 in the newly finished Pennsylvania State House,
the building that would eventually become Independence Hall.
The bell is inscribed with the words "Proclaim Liberty
throughout all the Land" (Lev. 25:10). It was rung on
the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in July 1776,
inaugurating an Independence Day tradition that was observed
every year (with the exception of 1777-78, when the bell was
removed and hidden from the British occupiers of
Philadelphia) until 1846. That year a small crack enlarged to
the point where the bell could no longer be sounded. Perhaps
the most famous symbol of the colonial struggle for
independence, it is now housed in Philadelphia's Liberty Bell
pavilion.
