brief history of the Liberty Bell. The account included the fictitious story of a blue-eyed boy who waited outside the Assembly Room on July 4, 1776, heard the passage of the Declaration of Independence, and scurried up the bell tower to the “gray-bearded” guard crying, “Ring! Ring!” The story had been circulating for a decade and quickly became accepted fact. To capitalize on the new popularity, officials in 1852 carted down the bell from the rafters and placed it on display along with a portion of George Washington’s pew from Christ Church, a Bible from 1776, and Ben Franklin’s desk. As Mayor Robert Conrad said at the dedication, “We acknowledge even a profounder feeling of exultation over the contacts and deeds that have made this the holiest spot—save one—of all the earth; the Sinai of the world, upon which the Ark of Liberty rested.”
Completing its resurrection, the Liberty Bell began traveling around the United States. It made seven journeys by rail between 1885 and 1915, for a total of 376 stops in thirty states, including world’s fairs in Chicago, New Orleans, and Atlanta. Three of the four first trips were in the South, where Northerners tried to use the bell as an instructional tool to enlighten former Confederates. Stereopticonsshowed former slaves bowing down to the bell. John Philip Sousa wrote “The Liberty Bell” march. Along with renewed interest in the Stars and Stripes through Flag Day and the Pledge of Allegiance, the Liberty Bell became part of a wave of American exceptionalism, which held that God had chosen America to lead the world into a new Promised Land. As another Philadelphia mayor, Charles Warwick, put it in 1895, “No religious ceremony in the bearing of relics could have produced more reverence than this old bell.”
“The Bellman informed of the passage of the Declaration of Independence,” depicting the mythical story of the ringing of the Liberty Bell. From the cover of Graham’s Magazine, June 1854. (Courtesy of The Library Company of Philadelphia)
Transferring the Liberty Bell from truck to train at St. Louis after the Exposition, 1905. (Courtesy of The Library of Congress)
And by rallying so intently around the words of Leviticus 25, Americans were reaffirming their commitment to the country’s moral foundations and its roots in the Hebrew Bible. During the years when the Liberty Bell was assuming its stature, Americans had near-universal biblical literacy, which means that most people would have recognized the context of the inscription. They would have seen it as part of God’s larger call to free the enslaved, salve the sick, uplift the poor. That recognition didn’t mean Americans went rushing to change their public policy, but it did mean they wanted their greatest symbols to be associated with their highest aspirations.
And sure enough, successive waves of ostracized Americans attempted to commandeer the Liberty Bell to support their own liberations. Suffragettes molded a replica of the Liberty Bell, dubbed “the Justice Bell,” to promote women’s rights, chaining the clapper until women could vote. Civil rights leaders made pilgrimages to the bell, and in 1963 Martin Luther King, Jr., invoked its symbolism in his jubilant phrase “Let freedom ring” at the March on Washington. During the Cold War, Jewish groups laid a wreath at what they deemed the “Bell for Captive Nations” to promote the plight of Soviet Jewry. And as early as 1965; gay-rights groups marched at the bell calling themselves “our last oppressed minority.” The process was like a form of Liberty Bell midrash, with each minority groupproclaiming liberty unto itself. More than any other emblem of 1776, the Liberty Bell had become the embodiment of America.
AT THE TOP of the ship’s ladder is a small trapdoor. I pushed it open, hoisted myself through the narrow opening, and suddenly found my head in the mouth of a giant bell. The cupola is an octagon, with narrow
Completing its resurrection, the Liberty Bell began traveling around the United States. It made seven journeys by rail between 1885 and 1915, for a total of 376 stops in thirty states, including world’s fairs in Chicago, New Orleans, and Atlanta. Three of the four first trips were in the South, where Northerners tried to use the bell as an instructional tool to enlighten former Confederates. Stereopticonsshowed former slaves bowing down to the bell. John Philip Sousa wrote “The Liberty Bell” march. Along with renewed interest in the Stars and Stripes through Flag Day and the Pledge of Allegiance, the Liberty Bell became part of a wave of American exceptionalism, which held that God had chosen America to lead the world into a new Promised Land. As another Philadelphia mayor, Charles Warwick, put it in 1895, “No religious ceremony in the bearing of relics could have produced more reverence than this old bell.”
“The Bellman informed of the passage of the Declaration of Independence,” depicting the mythical story of the ringing of the Liberty Bell. From the cover of Graham’s Magazine, June 1854. (Courtesy of The Library Company of Philadelphia)
Transferring the Liberty Bell from truck to train at St. Louis after the Exposition, 1905. (Courtesy of The Library of Congress)
And by rallying so intently around the words of Leviticus 25, Americans were reaffirming their commitment to the country’s moral foundations and its roots in the Hebrew Bible. During the years when the Liberty Bell was assuming its stature, Americans had near-universal biblical literacy, which means that most people would have recognized the context of the inscription. They would have seen it as part of God’s larger call to free the enslaved, salve the sick, uplift the poor. That recognition didn’t mean Americans went rushing to change their public policy, but it did mean they wanted their greatest symbols to be associated with their highest aspirations.
And sure enough, successive waves of ostracized Americans attempted to commandeer the Liberty Bell to support their own liberations. Suffragettes molded a replica of the Liberty Bell, dubbed “the Justice Bell,” to promote women’s rights, chaining the clapper until women could vote. Civil rights leaders made pilgrimages to the bell, and in 1963 Martin Luther King, Jr., invoked its symbolism in his jubilant phrase “Let freedom ring” at the March on Washington. During the Cold War, Jewish groups laid a wreath at what they deemed the “Bell for Captive Nations” to promote the plight of Soviet Jewry. And as early as 1965; gay-rights groups marched at the bell calling themselves “our last oppressed minority.” The process was like a form of Liberty Bell midrash, with each minority groupproclaiming liberty unto itself. More than any other emblem of 1776, the Liberty Bell had become the embodiment of America.
AT THE TOP of the ship’s ladder is a small trapdoor. I pushed it open, hoisted myself through the narrow opening, and suddenly found my head in the mouth of a giant bell. The cupola is an octagon, with narrow
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