Liberty Bell

The Liberty Bell is a large bronze bell that became one of the most famous symbols of the United States. It hangs in a glass building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where millions of people visit it each year. The bell is best known for its crack and for the words written around its top: "Proclaim Liberty throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof."

The bell was made in London, England, in 1752. Pennsylvania ordered it for the State House in Philadelphia, the building we now call Independence Hall. The bell cracked the very first time it was rung in America. Two local metalworkers, John Pass and John Stow, melted it down and made a new one. People did not like the sound, so the two men cast it a second time. That is the bell we have today.

The Liberty Bell weighs about 2,080 pounds. That is roughly as much as a small car. It hangs from a wooden beam made of American elm. The famous words on the bell come from the Bible, from a verse in the book of Leviticus.

For many years, the bell was just the State House bell. It rang to call lawmakers to meetings and to gather people for big news. Some stories say it rang on July 8, 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was first read out loud in public. Historians today are not sure if that is true. The State House steeple was in poor shape, so the bell may not have been rung at all.

The bell got the name "Liberty Bell" much later, in the 1830s. Groups working to end slavery began using it as a symbol. They liked the words about liberty for all people. The bell traveled around the country by train in the late 1800s, and huge crowds came out to see it at every stop.

When did it crack? Nobody knows for certain. The bell was rung many times over the years, and a thin crack slowly grew. Workers later cut a wider slot to try to stop the crack from spreading. It did not work. The bell rang for the last time in 1846, on George Washington's birthday, before it cracked beyond repair.

Today the Liberty Bell sits silent. It cannot ring anymore, but its meaning has only grown. People who fought for the end of slavery, for women's right to vote, and for civil rights all pointed to the bell as a promise that the country had not yet kept.