The Liberty Bell: A Symbol of Abolition and Freedom

Why is it significant?

Step inside the glass pavilion and gaze directly at the dark bronze curve and famous jagged hairline crack of the Liberty Bell.

Key Facts

Open the walk

Step inside the glass pavilion and gaze directly at the dark bronze curve and famous jagged hairline crack of the Liberty Bell. Cast in London in seventeen fifty-two for the Pennsylvania State House, this two-thousand-pound bell was commissioned to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of William Penn's Charter of Privileges.

Cast along its crown is the prophetic biblical inscription from Leviticus: Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants Thereof. Ironically, when the bell first arrived in Philadelphia, it cracked on its very first test ring, requiring two local foundrymen, John Pass and John Stow, to melt it down twice and recast it with extra copper.

The bell became a worldwide icon not during the Revolution, but in the eighteen thirties, when abolitionists battling to end chattel slavery adopted the inscription as their rallying cry and gave it the permanent name the Liberty Bell. The final irreparable crack widened on Washington's Birthday in eighteen forty-six, silencing its clapper forever.

Step outside toward the historic brick halls flanking Chestnut Street.