No object symbolizes 250 years of American freedom quite like the Liberty Bell with its iconic crack, which some say represents America's journey toward a more perfect union.
The bell's origins predate the Revolutionary War. Philadelphia city leaders ordered a 2,080-pound bell from the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London. In August 1752, it arrived, but when it was first struck, it cracked, so Philadelphia foundry workers melted it down and added copper to the bronze to strengthen it.
The bell's tone didn't sound right, so it was melted down again, with tin and more copper added, which did the trick.
The inscription on the bell is a verse from the King James Version of the Bible: "Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants thereof." Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly Isaac Norris chose this inscription in 1751, possibly to commemorate the 50th anniversary of William Penn's 1701 Charter of Privileges granting religious liberties and political self-government to the people of Pennsylvania, according to the National Park Service, which has maintained the Liberty Bell since 1948.
The bell was intended to alert Philadelphia citizens to important news.
On April 25, 1775, it rang days after the Revolutionary War battles of Lexington and Concord to rally support for the patriot cause. It also reportedly rang out on July 8, 1776, at the Pennsylvania State House grounds for the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence.
In September 1777, it was transported to Allentown, Pennsylvania. It was hidden under the floorboards of a church to prevent the British — who were advancing on Philadelphia — from melting it down to make musket balls.
The bell was rehung following the British vacating Philadelphia in 1778.
The iconic crack most likely first appeared in the early 1840s as a hairline fracture. Metalworkers widened the crack in February 1846 to prevent further expansion, which didn't work, but it prevented the bell from being fully rung with its clapper.
However, by this time, the Liberty Bell was too iconic to be melted down again, so it was struck with a mallet on ceremonial occasions, such as at the Sesquicentennial on July 4, 1926, the D-Day landings in Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944, the Bicentennial celebration on July 4, 1976, and this year's Semiquincentennial on July 4.
The Pennsylvania State House, which housed the bell, was renamed Independence Hall in 1824, during Marquis de Lafayette's visit to Philadelphia on his farewell tour of America.
In 1976, the British gifted the United States a large Bicentennial Bell, produced in the same London foundry as the Liberty Bell. Weighing 12,466 pounds, the Bicentennial Bell is on display at Benjamin Rush Garden in Philadelphia.
Queen Elizabeth II spoke at its dedication ceremony, thanking America's Founding Fathers for teaching the British "to respect the right of others to govern themselves in their own way."
The original bronze Liberty Bell is 70% copper and 25% tin with small amounts of lead, gold, arsenic, silver and zinc, according to the National Park Service. In 2003, the bell was relocated to the Liberty Bell Center in Independence National Historical Park, where it could be better preserved; it is open to the public.
From 1948 to 1963, the back of the Franklin half dollar featured the Liberty Bell, as did the Bicentennial Eisenhower dollar, which was issued from 1975 to 1976. The 1926 Sesquicentennial of American Independence Half Dollar featured the bell on the back, as does the 2026 Semiquincentennial quarters released in June. In October 2013, the Liberty Bell was added to the back of the $100.
Throughout the past 100 years, the U.S. Postal Service has issued three postage stamps featuring the Liberty Bell: a 1926 2-cent stamp marking the Sesquicentennial, a 1975 13-cent stamp marking the Bicentennial, and the first forever stamp, issued in April 2007.
The National Liberty Museum in Philadelphia houses a full-size replica of the bell that visitors can touch and ring.
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