In the America250 era, the Liberty Bell’s inscription quotes the biblical book of Leviticus.
The inscription comes from Leviticus 25:10: “Proclaim Liberty throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof.” The words refer to the biblical jubilee year, when land was to be returned and people were to be released from certain forms of bondage.
The Pennsylvania Assembly ordered the bell in 1751 for the State House, now called Independence Hall. It was cast in London, cracked during an early test, and recast in Philadelphia by John Pass and John Stow. The famous wide crack developed later, and the bell stopped ringing in the nineteenth century.
The bell became a powerful American symbol during the nineteenth century, especially as abolitionists connected its liberty message with emancipation. Its biblical wording predates the Declaration by 25 years, so it is not a quotation from the founding document.