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Facts about the Liberty Bell
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE LIBERTY BELL
In 1751 the
Pennsylvania Assembly authorized a committee to procure a
bell for their State House. November 1st of that year an
order was sent to London for "a good bell of about 2,000
pounds weight." To this order were added the following
directions: "Let the bell be cast by the best workmen and
examined carefully before it is shipped, with the following
words well shaped in large letters around it, viz.: 'By
order of the Assembly of the Province of Pennsylvania, for
the State House, in the city of Philadelphia, 1752.' And
underneath, 'Proclaim Liberty Through All the Land Unto All
the Inhabitants Thereof.--Levit. xxv. 10.'" In due time, in
the following year, the bell reached Philadelphia, but when
it was hung, early in 1753, as it was being first rung to
test the sound, it cracked without any apparent reason, and
it was necessary to have it recast. It was at first thought
to be necessary to send it back to England for the purpose,
but some "ingenious workmen" in Philadelphia wished to do
the casting and were allowed to do so. In the first week of
June, 1753, the bell was again hung in the belfry of the
State House. On July 4, 1776, it was known throughout the
city that the final decision on the question of declaring
the colonies independent of Great Britain was to be made by
the Continental Congress, in session at the State House.
Accordingly the old bellman had been stationed in the belfry
on that morning, with orders to ring the bell when a boy
waiting at the door of the State House below should signal
to him that the bill for independence had been passed. Hour
after hour the old man stood at his post. At last, at 2
o'clock, when he had about concluded that the question would
not be decided on that day at least, the watchman heard a
shout from below, and looking down saw the boy at the door
clapping his hands and calling at the top of his voice:
"Ring! ring!" And he did ring, the story goes, for two whole
hours, being so filled with excitement and enthusiasm that
he could not stop. When the British threatened Philadelphia,
in 1777, the precious bell was taken down and removed to the
town of Bethlehem for safety. In 1778 it was returned to the
State House and a new steeple built for it. Several years
after it cracked, for some unknown reason, under a stroke of
the clapper, and its tone was thus destroyed. An attempt was
made to restore its tone by sawing the crack wider, but
without success. This bell was sent to New Orleans during
the winter to be exhibited in the World's Fair there. The
Pullman Company gave one of their handsomest cars for the
transit. It was in the charge of three custodians appointed
by the Mayor of Philadelphia, who did not leave it night or
day, and guarded it as fully as possible against accident. A
pilot engine preceded the train carrying the bell over the
entire route. It left Philadelphia Jan. 24, 1885, and
returned in June.
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