Welcome to the Liberty Bell.

For over two hundred fifty years, the Liberty Bell has been linked to important events in American history and has increasingly become a symbol without national boundaries. Cast in London, England, in 1751, it reflected its times by commemorating the religious and political freedoms enjoyed by residents of colonial Pennsylvania. Its inscription, taken from the Bible, reads, "Proclaim Liberty throughout all the Land unto all the inhabitants thereof." Americans who opposed the enslavement of Africans remembered those words as they campaigned to end slavery early in the 19th century, using drawings of the bell on pamphlets and reprinting its inscription. Because it originally hung inside Independence Hall, where the American colonies declared independence and where the United States formed its first national government, its symbolic value was reinforced and magnified. After the American Civil War, it traveled to cities and towns across the country as a reminder of a shared heritage and common values, and reformers devoted to many causes used its fame to rally support for liberty for workers, women, and the disenfranchised and powerless. In the 20th century, as political democracy spread around the globe, the bell, with its recognizable shape and inclusive message, became part of the international quest for freedom. Its fame grew despite, or perhaps because of, its defects: it first cracked soon after arriving in Philadelphia, was recast by two local craftsmen in 1752, cracked again at an unknown time, and after a final repair in 1846, briefly returned to service until the crack lengthened. Unable to ring after the 1840s, cracked and silent yet world famous, it endured repeated threats and came to symbolize strength, survival, hope, and the search for liberty for all.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · United States