Leviticus supplied the inscription on Philadelphia's Liberty Bell.
The bell bears words from Leviticus 25:10: “Proclaim LIBERTY Throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants Thereof.” Pennsylvania's Provincial Assembly commissioned the bell in 1752 from the London firm Lester and Pack. Local founders John Pass and John Stow recast it after it cracked soon after arrival.
The inscription originally referred to the biblical Year of Jubilee, a period associated with liberty and the restoration of land. In the nineteenth century, American abolitionists adopted the bell as a powerful symbol of emancipation and popularized the name “Liberty Bell.”
The bell is often linked directly to the public reading of the Declaration of Independence on July 8, 1776, but no contemporary account proves that it rang for that event. Its historic importance grew gradually through later interpretations and movements.