The inscription around the top of the Liberty Bell reads as follows:

PROCLAIM LIBERTY THROUGHOUT ALL THE LAND UNTO ALL THE INHABITANTS THEREOF LEV. XXV X. BY ORDER OF THE ASSEMBLY OF THE PROVINCE OF PENSYLVANIA FOR THE STATE HOUSE IN PHILADA
PASS AND STOW
PHILADA
MDCCLIII

The Liberty Bell was ordered for purchase by the colony government, the Pennsylvania Assembly, in 1751 to be hung in the new constructed State House (Independence Hall). The Assembly requested their London agent, Robert Charles, to purchase a bell of approximately "two thousand pounds weight". Charles commissioned the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London to cast the bell.

Robert Charles bill to the Province of Pennsylvania states as follows:
"1752 May To cash for the cost of a Bell
with frt (freight) & Insurance £150.13.8
(150 pounds, 13 shillings and 8 pence.)"

Pass and Stow's bill for the recasting states as follows:
"1753 June For Recasting the State house bell wt 2044 lbs
at 4 pence Sterling pr. lb. £34.1.4; For 37 lb additional wt
at 14 pence per lb. Sterling £2.3.2."
Pass and Stow's bill for the recasting of the Liberty Bell totaled £36.4.6

That's about $225 US dollars!

The strike note of the Liberty Bell is E flat.

A metallurgical analysis of the Liberty Bell shows the composition to be approximately 70% copper, 25% tin, 2% lead, 1% zinc, .25% arsenic and .20% silver with trace amounts of gold, magnesium, nickel and antimony.

The elements are found in differing ratios throughout the Liberty Bell suggesting that the casters, Pass and Stow, did not have a large enough furnace to melt down all the pieces of the Bell at one time during recasting, but used small crucibles to complete the project.

The Liberty Bell weighs 2,080 pounds. The circumference around the lip (bottom) of the Bell is 12 feet and around the crown (top) is 7 feet 6 inches. From the lip to the crown measures 3 feet and the height over the crown measures 2 feet 3 inches. The thickness of the Liberty Bell at the lip is 3 inches and, at the crown, the thickness is 1.25 inches. The length of the clapper is 3 feet 2 inches and weighs 44.5 pounds. The yoke weighs 200 pounds and its wood is Slippery Elm.

The Liberty Bell is owned by the City of Philadelphia - not the National Park Service. The NPS is under agreement with the City of Philadelphia to manage and maintain the Liberty Bell within Independence National Historic Park.

The original Bell received by the Whitechapel Foundry in 1752 cracked upon its very first strike. But, when the Liberty Bell, as we know it today, cracked is a much debated question...and a story with many renditions!

There is no document that definitely dates when the Liberty Bell cracked, however, we do know that it cracked sometime between 1817 and 1846. Some facts and legends:

A) One of the earliest dates of the Liberty Bell's cracking was reported in September 1824 during the visit of the Marquis de Lafayette to Philadelphia. The newspaper accounts of this visit do not mention the ringing of the State House Bell which would have occurred to announce the arrival of the guest to the city.

B) Others claimed the Bell cracked while sounding for a fire during the winter of 1824-1825; however, this cannot be verified by contemporary newspaper articles.

C) In 1828, there was much discussion by the Philadelphia City Councils of the new clock bell and steeple in the Old State House (Independence Hall). None of the documents from these meetings indicated that the Liberty Bell was damaged or unusable.

D) The Liberty Bell was rung to announce the news of the passage of the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1828 in Great Britain. John Sartain in his book, Reminiscences of a Very Old Man, claims the Bell was cracked during this announcement:

"The final passage of the Emancipation Act by the British Parliament is linked to a bit of Philadelphia history. On receipt of the news in Philadelphia the Liberty Bell in the tower of the State House was rung, and cracked in the ringing. When I was up in the tower in 1830, two years after, viewing the cracked bell for the first time, Downing, who was then the custodian of Independence Hall, told me of it and remarked that the bell refused to ring for a British Act, even when the Act was a good one."

This claim is questionable. Three years after this alleged cracking, the Philadelphia Councils passed a resolution allowing all young men in the city and the county to ring the State House bell on July 4th. Additionally, The National Gazette and Literary Register (Philly's local newspaper at the time) gave official notice to the city firemen that the State House bell would be rung during the morning hours and not to mistake this for a fire alarm.

E) While pealing for George Washington's birthday on February 22, 1832, the Liberty Bell supposedly cracked; however, again, there are no support for this claim. According to newspaper accounts at the time, the State House bell was tolled on November 14th of that year to announce the death of the last living signer of the Declaration of Independence, Charles Carroll. Also, two years later, an article in Poulson's American Daily Advertiser appeared on July 22, 1834, stating that the bell was tolled for the news of the death of the Marquis de Lafayette.

F) After reading a story about how the Liberty Bell cracked, Emmanual Joseph Rauch contacted the New York Times in 1911 to explain that he was present when the Liberty Bell cracked. He claimed that as a boy, he was passing by Independence Hall on February 22, 1835, when the steeple keeper asked if he would like to ring the Liberty Bell in honor of George Washington's birthday. The steeple keeper took Emmanual and several other boys up into the tower and instructed them how to ring the bell. The boys pulled the rope and noticed a change in the tone of the bell. The steeple keeper inspected the bell and noticed a crack approximately one foot long. He ordered the youngsters to go home. Not likely. Again, this story cannot be verified by contemporary newspapers or substantiated by any other accounts.

G) One of the more popular dates of the Liberty Bell's cracking is July 8, 1835, when the bell was tolled during the funeral procession of Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, John Marshall. Although newspaper accounts give details of the funeral, there is no mention of the Liberty Bell cracking. The earliest versions of this story appear in Thompson Westcott's The Official Guide Book to Philadelphia: A New Handbook for Strangers and Citizens published in 1876 for the Centennial Exhibition. Also, the custodian of Independence Hall, Frank M. Etting, announced in March 1876 that he learned that the bell was cracked in 1835 while tolling the death of Chief Justice Marshall. Neither source provides documentation to support their claims.

H) According to three contemporary newspaper accounts, the bell was rung during the viewing of the body of deceased President William Henry Harrison on April 7, 1841. The bell was also used to celebrate Washington's birthday on February 22, 1843. Two different authors, Thompson Westcott and Willis P. Hazard, claimed the bell cracked so badly on this date as to render it useless. However, it appears that Mr. Westcott may have confused his dates as he reports both of the cracking events in 1835 and 1843 in his official city guidebook of 1876.

I) Official City journals document that the Philadelphia Mayor at a meeting on February 12, 1846, of the Common Council and Select Council, requested that the "Independence Bell" be rung on George Washington's birthday. In order to honor the request, William Eckel, Superintendent of the State House, ordered that the fracture in the bell be drilled out which resulted in the crack that we see today. Given this order, the Liberty Bell had to have cracked sometime previously.

So, when did the Liberty Bell really crack?...you decide!

As the population of the colony of Pennsylvania grew, so did the need for an official building to house the colony's government body, the Pennsylvania Assembly. Construction of the State House (now known as Independence Hall) began in 1732. Part of the construction order included the making of a bell tower on the building's south side. When the steeple work was completed in early 1751, a bell was hung in the new tower. Unfortunately, this bell could not be heard throughout all parts of Philadelphia and it was decided that a new bell was needed.

The Pennsylvania Assembly Speaker and Chairman of the State House Superintendents, Isaac Norris, contacted the Assembly's London agent, Robert Charles, by letter asking him to purchase a "good Bell of about two thousand pounds weight" and included instructions for the inscription on the Bell. Charles commissioned the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in England under the direction of master founder, Thomas Lester, on November 1, 1751. The bell arrived in America in late August 1752, nearly one year later.

The new bell was set up in Independence Square to be tested prior to being hung in the new tower. The bell cracked on its very first test! Isaac Norris is quoted, "I had the mortification to hear that it was cracked by a stroke of the clapper without any further violence as it was hung up to try the sound." The bell's metal was too brittle to sustain even one stroke of the clapper.

Local Philadelphia founders, John Pass and John Stow, were commissioned to recast the Whitechapel bell and strengthen its composition. The original bell was broken down and recast with additional metals added to it. In March of 1753, the newly recast bell was tested and hung in the tower of the State House. While this new bell was stronger, Philadelphians did not like the sound of the new bell. Pass and Stow were asked to recast the bell again.

Pass and Stow completed the second recasting in June 1753 and the Bell was again hung in the tower. The new Bell was still of questionable sound in some minds; however, it was deemed acceptable and it is this Bell that eventually became known as the Liberty Bell.

Very little is known about the Philadelphia founders, John Pass and John Stow. When the bell cracked on its first ringing, Pass and Stow offered to recast the bell. According to the State House Superintendent, the men were judged as "ingenious workmen" capable of the task.

John Stow advertised himself as a brass founder offering items for sale ranging from bell-metal skillets to various brass works. He was born in Philadelphia on February 2, 1727, the second son of Charles and Rebecca Stow. Little is known of his personal life except that was a charter member of the Union Library Company. He died in March, 1754, the year following the final casting of the Liberty Bell.

John Pass was a native of the British possession of Malta and may have served as an apprentice bell founder there. Pass later owned Mt. Holly Iron Furnace before arriving in Philadelphia.

The phrase "The Liberty Bell" appeared in The Anti-Slavery Record, Vol.1, No. 2, published by R.G. Williams, for the American Anti-Slavery Society, in February 1835. The phrase is used on page 23 of the publication and reads as follows:

"The Liberty Bell. Being in Philadelphia a few days since, I was invited after viewing the room in which the Declaration of Independence was signed, to ascend the tower of the State House, to take a view of the city. The view was delightful. On our ascent, we did not fail to examine the celebrated Bell. It weighs 2300 pounds, and was cast 23 years before the Declaration of Independence was signed. On that occasion it was rung, and has been run every 22d February and 4th of July since. It is remarkable that the following inscription was on the bell when it was cast. It was considered a sort of prophecy: "PROCLAIM LIBERTY THROUGHOUT ALL THE LAND, AND TO ALL THE INHABITANTS THEREOF." May not the emancipationists in Philadelphia, hope to live to hear the same bell rung, when liberty shall in fact be proclaimed to all the inhabitants of this favored land? Hitherto, the bell has not obeyed the inscription; and its peals have been a mockery, while one sixth of "all inhabitants" are in abject slavery."

On April 1, 1996, a full-page Taco Bell advertisement appeared in The New York Times announcing that Taco Bell had purchased the Liberty Bell in an effort to help reduce the national debt. The fast-food chain stated that they were renaming the Bell to the "Taco Liberty Bell". Many citizens found the hoax to be in bad taste.

The Liberty Bell March was written by John Philip Sousa for the Liberty Bell's visit to the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893. A copy of the sheet music is available for viewing in the Museum's Sheet Music exhibit. It is a familiar tune to many people nearly a century later as the theme music for the Monty Python Show.

In addition, the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution recognizes the Liberty Bell March as it's signature song. When played by a military band, it is often called, "The Daughters of the American Revolution March."

In 1950, the United States Department of the Treasury and several private companies commissioned Paccard Foundry, in Annecy-le-Vieux, France, to cast 55 full size replicas of the Liberty Bell. The bells were intended as gifts to each State, U.S. territory and the District of Columbia to be displayed and rung on special occasions. This was part of a savings bond drive conducted in the summer of 1950 with the slogan, "Save for Your Independence". A list of the Replica Liberty Bells and their location by State is available.