The Liberty Bell got its name from being rung JULY 8, 1776, to call the citizens of Philadelphia together to hear the Declaration of Independence read out loud for the first time.
Weighing over 2,000 pounds, this massive bell was cast in England in August of 1752, by an order of the Pennsylvania Assembly to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Colony’s existence.
The Colony was founded in 1701, when William Penn wrote Pennsylvania’s Charter of Privileges.
In 1751, the colony’s Assembly declared a “Year of Jubilee” and commissioned a bell to be put in the Philadelphia State House. Isaac Norris, Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly, read Leviticus chapter 25 verse 10:
“And ye shall make hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a jubilee.”
Inscribed on the Liberty Bell is:
“Proclaim Liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.”
During the Revolution, the Liberty Bell was rushed out of Philadelphia in 1777 before the British troops invaded the city to prevent it from being melted down and used for musket balls.
It was returned to Philadelphia in June of 1778, after the British departed.
The Liberty Bell was rung every anniversary of the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence, until JULY 8, 1835, when it reportedly cracked while being rung at the funeral of John Marshall, the Chief Justice responsible for establishing the supremacy of the Supreme Court through “judicial review.”
John Marshall, the longest-serving Chief Justice, wrote decisions which increased the power of the Supreme Court and Federal Government over the States, using an expansive reading of the enumerated powers.
At the 150th anniversary of the Declaration, 1926, President Calvin Coolidge stated:
“People at home and abroad consider Independence Hall as hallowed ground and revere the Liberty Bell as a sacred relic.
That pile of bricks and mortar, that mass of metal, might appear as only the outgrown meeting place and the shattered bell…but to those who know, they have become consecrated.
They are the framework of a spiritual event.”
Calvin Coolidge continued:
“The world looks upon them because of their associations of 150 years ago, as it looks upon the Holy Land because of what took place there nineteen hundred years ago.”
William J. Federer is a nationally known speaker, best-selling author, and president of Amerisearch, Inc., a publishing company dedicated to researching America’s noble heritage.
To learn more about the author please visit William Federer
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