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This bell has had quite a history.
On November 1, 1751, a bell was ordered from the Whitechapel
Foundry in England with the intention it should hang in the
State House steeple, now Independence Hall.
September 2, 1752, the bell arrived and March 10, 1753 in was
hung. It cracked while the sound was being tested. The break
was believed to be cause by flaws in the casting.
The cracked bell was melted down and recast by the local
Philadelphia foundry. An ounce and a half to a pound of
copper was added in an attempt to make the new bell less
brittle. The tone of this bell was not liked and so it was
again melted down and recast.
In June of 1753 the bell was hung again but the tone was still
not approved of. A new bell was ordered from England. After
it arrived it was agreed that it sound no better than the
last. The previous bell was left in the steeple and the new
bell was placed in the cupola on the State House roof and
attached to the clock to sound the hours.
Independence Day is the celebration of adoption of the Declaration of
Independence. It was written by Thomas Jefferson and
signed by the Second Continental Congress - July 4,
1776. This statement gave the colonies freedom from
Great Britain.
Independence Day was first observed in Philadelphia on July 8,
1776. In 1941, Congress declared July 4 a federal legal
holiday.
"It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, games,
sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one
end of this continent to the other, from this time forward
forevermore."
-John Adams
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