Free previewStop 2 of Philadelphia Walking Tour: Independence Hall to Elfreth's Alley
The Bell That Abolitionists Renamed
You've just crossed from Independence Hall, and you're at the Liberty Bell Center. Through the glass, find the bell itself, and look past the famous crack to the band of letters near the top: "Proclaim Liberty throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof." Those words are why this bell is famous, and for a long time nobody called it by that name.
The bell was ordered from London in 1751 by Isaac Norris, speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly, for the new tower of the State House. Norris specified the line, and cited Leviticus alongside it. The bell arrived in August 1752. The Assembly had been waiting to hang it, and when it was mounted on a stand to test the sound, the first strike of the clapper cracked the rim.
Two local founders offered to fix it. John Pass headed an iron foundry in Mount Holly, New Jersey.
That's the opening. The rest plays at stop 2 of Philadelphia Walking Tour: Independence Hall to Elfreth's Alley (3 min in all). Unlock the tour to hear it all, or try stop 1 free first.
