The Liberty Bell
The Pennsylvania Assembly ordered the bell in 1751 to commemorate the golden anniversary of William Penn’s 1701 Charter of Privileges, Pennsylvania’s original Constitution, which speaks of the rights and freedoms valued by people the world over. As the bell was created, the biblical quotation “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof” was particularly apt. For the line in the Bible immediately preceding “proclaim liberty” is, “And ye shall hallow the 50th year.” What better way to pay homage to Penn and hallow the fiftieth year than with a bell proclaiming liberty?
The Liberty Bell gained iconic importance when abolitionists in their efforts to put an end to slavery throughout America adopted it as a symbol of emancipation and liberty in 1837.
Related to a popular fictional story written in 1747, tradition says that on July 8, 1776, the Liberty Bell rang out from the tower of Independence Hall, summoning the citizens of Philadelphia to hear the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence. The truth is that the steeple was in bad condition, and historians today highly doubt this account. However, its association with the Declaration of Independence became fixed in the collective mythology.
Taken from The American Patriot’s Bible
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