Philadelphia is home to the Liberty Bell associated with the public reading of the 1776 Declaration of Independence.
The bell was cast in 1751 for the Pennsylvania State House, the building now called Independence Hall. It bears an inscription from Leviticus 25:10: “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants Thereof.” The inscription helped give the bell its later symbolic name.
Historical evidence shows that bells in Philadelphia rang during the public reading of the Declaration on July 8, 1776. However, no surviving record specifically identifies the Liberty Bell as the bell that rang, and historians note that the State House steeple may not have been strong enough at the time.
The famous story that the bell rang on July 4, 1776, is a later legend. The Declaration was approved on July 4, but the first public readings occurred on July 8. The bell cracked during the nineteenth century and is now displayed at the Liberty Bell Center in Philadelphia.