The anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence,
adopted July 4, 1776.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1776 (JULY).
INDEPENDENCE HALL.
The Liberty Bell.
The hall in the old State House of Pennsylvania, at
Philadelphia, within which the Declaration of American
Independence was adopted and promulgated by the Continental
Congress, on the 4th of July, 1776. The venerable State House,
which was erected between 1729 and 1734, is carefully
preserved, and the "Hall of Independence is kept closed,
except when curious visitors seek entrance, or some special
occasion opens its doors to the public.
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Nothing now remains of the old furniture of the hall except
two antique mahogany chairs, covered with red leather, one of
which was used by Hancock as president, and the other by
Charles Thomson as secretary of Congress, when the Declaration
of Independence was adopted. … I ascended to the steeple,
where hangs, in silent grandeur, the Liberty Bell. It is four
feet in diameter at the lip, and three inches thick at the
heaviest part. Its tone is destroyed by a crack, which extends
from the lip to the crown, passing directly through the names
of the persons who cast it. An attempt was made to restore
the tone by sawing the crack wider, but without success. …
The history of this bell is interesting. In 1752, a bell for
the State House was imported from England. On the first
trial-ringing, after its arrival, it was cracked. It was
recast by Pass and Stow, of Philadelphia, in 1753, under the
direction of Isaac Norris, Esq., the then speaker of the
Colonial Assembly. And that is the bell, 'the greatest in
English America,' which now hangs in the old State House
steeple and claims our reverence. Upon fillets around its
crown, cast there twenty-three years before the Continental
Congress met in the State House, are the words of Holy Writ:
'Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the
inhabitants thereof.' How prophetic! Beneath that very bell
the representatives of the thirteen colonies 'proclaimed
liberty.' Ay, and when the debates were ended, and the result
was announced, on the 4th of July, 1776, the iron tongue of
that very bell first 'proclaimed liberty throughout all the
land, unto all the inhabitants thereof,' by ringing out the
joyful annunciation for more than two hours."
_B. J. Lossing,
Field-book of the Revolution,
volume 2, chapter 3._
ALSO IN:
_J. T. Scharf and T. Westcott,
History of Philadelphia,
volume I, chapters 15 and 17._