Leviticus is the biblical book quoted on the Liberty Bell, a symbol linked to America250.
The bell’s inscription comes from Leviticus 25:10: “Proclaim LIBERTY Throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants Thereof.” The quotation refers to the biblical Jubilee year, when liberty and restoration were to be proclaimed throughout the land.
The Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly commissioned the bell in 1751, and it was cast in London in 1752. After the bell cracked, local founders John Pass and John Stow recast it. The names of both men appear on the bell along with the biblical inscription.
The Liberty Bell became especially important as an American freedom symbol in the nineteenth century. Abolitionists adopted its name and imagery, connecting the inscription’s language about liberty with the campaign against slavery. A popular story says it rang on July 4, 1776, but no contemporary evidence confirms that event.