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 IHE LIBERTYBELL 
 
 •.--rl > I ir-^''^ I- -r-i . 
 
 .^. - ^- 
 
 INDEPENDENCE HALL 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 J 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES S. KEYSER ^ 
 
 I9OI 
 
 
 iH 
 
THE LIBERTY BELL 
 
 IN THE 
 
 PHILADELPHIA BUILDING 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SOUTH CAROLINA INTER-STATE 
 
 AND 
 
 WEST INDIAN EXPOSITION 
 
 CHARLESTON, S. C. 
 1 90 1 -02 
 

OFFICIAL 
 
 OF THE 
 
 TO 
 
 ESCORT 
 
 BELL 
 CHARLESTON 
 
 Hon. SAMUEL H. ASHBRIDGE. 
 Mayor of Philadelphia 
 
 JOINT SPECIAL COMMITTEE OF COUNCILS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CITY OF PHILADELPHIA 
 
 James L. Miles, President of Select Council 
 
 George McCurdy, President of Common Council 
 
 OF THE SELECT COUNCIL 
 
 Henry Clay, 
 George W. Kucker, 
 Henry R. Shoch, 
 William McCoach, 
 George W. Sunderland, 
 Samuel K. Stinger, 
 
 Joseph H.Klemmer, 
 Charles Seger, 
 Edward W. Patton, 
 George D'Autrechy, 
 Watson D. Upperman, 
 Samuel P. Town. 
 
 of the common council 
 
 Lawson C. Funk, 
 Albert Moore, 
 Wilson H. Brown, 
 R, Cortland Horr, 
 Dr. Thomas D. Morton, 
 Harry D. Beaston, 
 
 James H. Hazlett, 
 Charles Roberts, 
 George W. Ruch, 
 Alexander DeHaven, 
 August Hohl, 
 Samuel W. Salus. 
 
 Wilson H. Brown, Chair7nan. 
 
 George G. Pierie, 
 
 Cojntnissioner of City Property 
 and Custodian of the Bell. 
 
/tZ^-^c*^ fO'^^^y^ 
 
RECEPTION COMMITTEE OF THE BELL 
 AT CHARLESTON 
 
 Hon. J. ADGER SMYTH, 
 Mayor of Charleston. 
 
 CHARLESTON CITY COMMISSION 
 Hon. J. ADGER SMYTH, Chairman, 
 
 Mayor of Charleston 
 
 C. S. Gadsden, 
 
 F. Q. Oneill. 
 
 OFFICERS OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA EXPOSITION 
 
 F. W. Wagner. President. John H. Averill, Director-General. 
 
 iUARD OF THE BELL AT CHARLESTON 
 
 of the Reserve Police of Philadelphia 
 
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THE LIBERTY BELL 
 
 INl)HPl^.NDl:NCn HALL 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 BY 
 
 ,«' 
 
 CHARLES S. KEYSEK 
 
 1 90 1 
 
COPYRIGHT 
 
 CHARLES S. KEYSEf 
 
 IQOI 
 
 DUNLAP Printing Co., Publishers: 
 ^332-36 Cherry Street 
 
 PHII.ADHLrillA 
 
INDEPENDENCE HALL 
 
 Independence Hall, i'hiladelphia, comprises three main build- 
 ings. A central structure — the State House with offices adjoin- 
 ing — and two separate buildings, one erected for the city and 
 the other for the county of Philadelphia. 
 
 The central building was designed and l)uilt b\' .\ndrew 
 Hamilton, a Barrister of Philadelphia. 'The two others, the lots 
 for which he procured, and for the erection of which he created 
 a trust, were not built imtil after the close of the Revolution. 
 The whole together has a frontage on Chestnut street of 396 
 feet, and was at the time of its completion the largest l)uilding 
 for State and municipal purposes in the country. 
 
 The story of its construction is as follows: On the first of 
 the third month 1729 the representatives, as they styled them- 
 selves, of "the free men of Pennsylvania," in General Assembly 
 met, determined to build a house for themselves, having been 
 up to that time obliged to hire ]>rivate houses for their sittings. 
 The Act in manuscript still exists and is in the handwriting of 
 Andrew Hamilton. 
 
 On the ] ith of August, '1732. Air. Hamilton exhibited a plan 
 and elevation of the house or l)uilding, — the central building 
 as it now stands, and the same being compared with several 
 other plans and elevations, was approved, and the House, after 
 consideration, resolved, that Mr. Hamilton be the person to 
 superintend and govern the building, and that the House for his 
 trouble would make him compensation. 
 
 Air. Hamilton, to meet the requirements for the better preser- 
 vation of the public papers of the Province, produced in 1732, 
 on the 23d of March, a plan for the two offices adjoining the 
 State House. 
 
 On the 15th of September, 1735, Air. Hamilton took his seat 
 as President of the Assembly in the State House, then so far 
 finished as to admit of occupancy by that body. The offices 
 adjoining were also almo.'^t completed, and the building, offices, 
 and ground vested in Trustees. 
 
6 THF. LIBERTY nV.lJ.. 
 
 On the .20th of 12th month, 1735, Mr. Haniihon conveyed to 
 Trustees two lots, one at the corner of Sixth street and one at 
 the corner of Fiftli street, for the City and County of Philadel- 
 phia, for the erectino- upon the same two buildings by the City 
 and County. "The buildings to be of like form, structure, and 
 dimensions, one for the use of the City for holding its courts, 
 and one for the use of the County for like purposes." In these 
 
 ANDREW HAMILTON. 
 
 last days of his life work, he thus secured one harmonious design 
 for the whole structure as it now stands. 
 
 Sixth month, nth, 1739, he retired from the service of the 
 Province in a re]>resentativc capacity by reason of his age and 
 infirmities, but continued in his duties as Superintendent of the 
 State House until his death. On the occasion of his retiring 
 from both the Speakership and membership of the House, he 
 uttered these sentiments, which are worthy of preservation for 
 all time: 
 
THE LIBliRTY BELL j 
 
 "As the service ot the country should l)c the only motive to induce 
 any man to take upon him the country's trust, which none ought to 
 assume who find themselves incapable of giving such a constant attend- 
 ance as the nainrc of so great trust nniuires, and as you are witnesses 
 of the frequent indispositions of body I have so long labored under, 
 particularly during the Winter season (the usual time of doing business 
 here), and being apprehensive that by reason of my age and infirmities, 
 which daily increase, I may be rendered unable to discharge the duty 
 expected from a member of the Assembly, I therefore hope that these 
 considerations alone, were there no others, will appear to you sufficient 
 to justify the determination I am come to, of declining the farther ser- 
 vice of the Province in a representative capacity. 
 
 "As to my conduct, it is not for me to condemn or to commend 
 it; those who have sat here from time to time, during my standing, 
 and particularly those several gentlemen present who were members 
 when I first came into the House, have the right to judge of my 
 behavior and will censure or approve it as it has deserved. But what- 
 ever that may have been, I know my own intentions, and that J ever 
 had at heart the preservation of Liberty — the love oi ^liicTi as it first 
 dn:w mc to, so ft constantly prevailed upon me to reside in this Prov- 
 ince, though to the manifest prejudice of my fortune." 
 
 While still in the completion of this work (1741, Aug. 4) 
 Mr. Hamilton's life work ended. At this time the whole main 
 building as it now stands and the wings were externally com- 
 plete. 
 
 In 1741, November 4th, the tower was raised with the usual 
 jollities on the occasion. In 1742 the offices were entirely fin- 
 ished. 
 
 1743, -November 14th. the court room (the west chamber) and 
 piazzas between the chief buildings were finished. 
 
 In 1745 the Assembly room was finally completed, curtains 
 hung, covers put on the chairs, a press for papers bought, a 
 silver inkstand for the Speaker's table, which is still preserved; 
 two open stoves for burning fuel procured, two pairs of and- 
 irons, and two pairs of tongs. 
 
 In 1747 the western chamber on the second floor was finished 
 for the Governor's Council. In 1750 a building was carried up 
 on the tower with a suitable place to hang a bell. 
 
 The material of the building is brick, stone, marble and wood. 
 The coignes are Westchester serpentine, faded by age; it is a 
 green stone used now in large quantities. The marble came from 
 quarries near the Schuylkill, it is a blue and white marble; the 
 bricks are of the red clav of Philadelphia. 
 
8 THE LIBERTY BELL. 
 
 All these have lasted in a remarkable manner, the marble 
 only being in any measure affected by long exposure to the 
 weather. The roof was shingled. All the rafters were of oak 
 and came from near the City: the greater part of these remain. 
 The workmen were of various nationalities. 
 
 The central building, the State House, is one hundred and 
 seven feet in length and forty-five in width; the first floor is 
 divided into two rooms, each forty feet square with ceiling twenty 
 feet high; these rooms are divided by a hallway twenty feet wide, 
 extending from north to south through the building to a broad 
 stairway which gives access to the second floor; the room on 
 the east side is on the left and the room on the west side is on 
 the right as you enter from Chestnut street; the second floor 
 is divided into one room called the long room, extending one 
 hundred feet on Chestnut street by twenty feet in width, and a 
 west and east room of the same width on the south side of the 
 building; the ceilings of these rooms are sixteen feet in height; 
 the steps of the stairway are six feet in length with a rise of 
 six inches. 
 
 The room on the east side first lloor is the Declaration 
 Chamber; on the west side, the Supreme Court room of the Prov- 
 ince; the long room on the second floor was the banquetting room 
 for colonial entertainments; the east room on this floor was occu- 
 pied by the Clerks of Assembly, and the west room by the Gov- 
 ernor's Council.* 
 
 The County building was begun 1787 and was finished 1789. 
 
 The plan of the City building was determined upon in 1775; 
 in 1789 the inhabitants of the City then created a corporation 
 by the name of the Mayor, Aldermen and citizens of Philadel- 
 phia, authorized its building, to be a City Hall of the same di- 
 mensions and form of the County building, then just finished. 
 The work was forthwith commenced and the building finished 
 in 1 791. 
 
 These buildings remain externally substantially as they were 
 bulk, except that the County building has been lengthened thirty- 
 seven feet; the ground floor was, as first built, in one room, with 
 a vestibule extending along the whole front of the building. 
 
 The dimensions of these two buildings were the same — and 
 
 * The whole building has the same appearan-e as in the Revolution, it was a few years 
 since restored througiiout by the Philade'.phi i Chapter of the Daughters of the American 
 Revolution and the Cit\- of Philade'phia. 
 
THE LIBERTY BELL. 
 
 in every particular the external construction in style and material 
 was the same. Each building was fifty feet wide, divided cen- 
 trally by a doorway, and sixty-five feet eight inches long. 
 
 The Congress of the United States occupied the County 
 building from its third session, 6th of December, 1790, until the 
 seat of Government was removed to Washington in 1800; Wash- 
 ington was inaugurated in this building for his second term as 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 President of the United States, Alarch 4th. 1793, and John Adams 
 was inaugurated here for the same ot^ce March 4th, 1797, the 
 Representatives in the Congress occupied the lower floor, the 
 Senate occupied the tloor of the second story.* 
 
 The Supreme Court of the United States held its first session 
 on the second floor of the City building, beginning first Monday, 
 7th February, 1791; John Jay, John Rutledge and Oliver Ells- 
 worth were the Chief Justices during the period of its occupa- 
 tion, which continued until the 15th of August, 1800. 
 
 * This chamber is in the care of tlic Colonial Dames, who restored it lo its orijjiiial 
 appearance. 
 
lO THE LIBERTY BELL. 
 
 THE NOTABLE EVENTS IN THE DECLARATION 
 
 CHAMBER. 
 
 May loth, 1775, the Continental Congress sat in this room 
 from this date to the close of the Revolution except when in 
 1776-7 it met in Baltimore. December, January and February, 
 and 1777-8, when the City was in the occupation of the British 
 Army. 
 
 June i6th, 1775, Washington accepted in this room his ap- 
 pointment by Congress as General of the Continental Army. 
 
 July 4th, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted. 
 It was also signed in this room. 
 
 July 9th, 1778, the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual 
 Union between the States were adopted and signed in this room. 
 
 November 3d, 1781, the twenty-four standards taken at the 
 surrender of Yorktown were laid at the feet of Congress and of 
 his Excellency, the Ambassador of France, in this room. 
 
 September 17th, 1787, the Constitution of the United States 
 was adopted and signed in this room. 
 
 THE LIBERTY BELL. 
 
 "And proclaim liberty flirougliouf all the land unto all the inhabitants 
 thereof : it shall be a jnbilee unto you.'" 
 
 Among the bells of the world no one has been associated 
 with events of as great import to humanity as the Liberty Bell. 
 
 Its prophetic inscription, its appeals to the people to assem- 
 ble for the redress of their grievances, and its defiant clangor 
 that memorable day of the Proclamation of our Independence, 
 its rejoicing pealings over the completed work of the Revolution, 
 and its last tolling over the dead of the nation, gives its story 
 an abiding interest to the nation and the world. 
 
 The Assembly of Pennsylvania customarily had in its posses- 
 sion, a bell for ofificial purposes, from the organization of the 
 Province. Its ordinary use was to call its members together, 
 morning and afternoon during its sessions, and to announce 
 the hour of the opening of the Courts of Justice to the people. 
 
tup: L1L5F.RTY i',i;ll. I I 
 
 Its most stately use was to announce tlie proclamation of the 
 accession of a member of the royal family to the throne and the 
 proclamation of the treaties of i)eace and declarations of war. 
 The bell, which following this customary use. announced the 
 proclamation oi the Declaration of Independence, was ordered by 
 
 tme liberty bell. 
 
 the superintendents of the State House, Isaac Xorris, Thomas 
 Leach and Edward Warner, from the agent of the Province in 
 London, Robert Charles, in 175 1. It was required to weigh about 
 two thousand pounds and to be lettered with the following words 
 "well shaped, in large letters:" "By order of the Assembly of 
 the Province of Pennsylvania for the State Tloust' in the citv ot 
 
12 THE LIBERTY BELL. 
 
 Philadelphia, 1752," and underneath, "Proclaim liberty through- 
 out all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." 
 
 It was cast by Thomas Lester, Whitechapel, London. The 
 Bell arrived at the end of August, 1752, and was hung. Early 
 in September, however, it was cracked by a stroke of the clapper 
 without any other violence and thereupon recast by Pass & Stow, 
 two "ingenious workmen," in Philadelphia,* and hung April 17th, 
 1753. In the recasting the same metal was used with the addi- 
 tion of an ounce and a half of copper to the pound to make the 
 bell less brittle. The same form and lettering were preserved with 
 the substitution of the names and place and year of recasting it 
 now bears. It was recast by them, the first casting not being 
 satisfactory, and the same year again hung in the State House. f 
 
 The Bell is twelve feet in circumference around the lip and 
 seven feet six inches around the crown; it is three feet following 
 the line of the bell from the lip to the crown, and two feet three 
 inches over the crown. It is three inches thick in the thickest 
 part near the lip, and one and a quarter inches thick in the thin- 
 nest part toward the crown. The length of the clapper is three 
 feet two inches, and the weight of the whole is two thousand and 
 eighty pounds. 
 
 It is lettered in a line encircling its crown with the sentence: — 
 
 Proclaim L,IBERTY throughout A1.1, the LAND unto all 
 THK Inhabitants thereof, Lev. xxv, v, x. 
 
 Immediately under this sentence, also in a line encircling its 
 crown : — 
 
 By Order of the Assembly of the Province of Pen- 
 
 SYLVANIA for THE STATE HoUSE IN PhILADA. 
 
 Pass and Stov/. 
 
 Philada. 
 MDCCLIII. 
 
 * Note. — " Philadelphia, June 7, 1753 — Last week was raised and fixed in the State House 
 steeple llie new great bell cast here by Pass & Stow weighing 2080 pounds with this motto: 
 'Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.' " Lev. 25, 10. — 
 Maryland Gazelle, July 7, 1753. 
 
 t The Bell as last placed in the steeple remained there until the steeple was taken down, 
 July 16, 1781 ; it was then lowered into the tower where it remained until 1846 ; it was then 
 taken inside the Declaration Chamber below and remained there until 1876. It was then 
 placed in its old frame in the hallway and remained there until 1877 when it was hung from 
 the ceiling of the hallw-y by a chain of thirteen links. It was returned again to the 
 Declaration Chamber and placed in a glass rase the f illowing year and in 1896 it was taken 
 back to the hallway in the same case where it still remains. 
 
Ill-: lib1':ktv hi-. 
 
 13 
 
 The case in which it is kept is four-sided, of heavy plate g"lass 
 framed in white oak; eacli plate is four feet wide and seven feet 
 high; the entire case is ten feet high. The Bell is suspended in 
 it from the old yoke on which it hung in the Revolution; it rests 
 on each side on two bronze uprights. The whole stands on a 
 movable platform. When it rang for the Declaration it hung in 
 a heavy wooden frame; the frame was ordered by the Assembly 
 when the Bell arrived in 1753. it was taken down from the steeple 
 with the Bell in 178 1 (July 16) and placed in the tower below 
 where it still remains. A leaden canopy was over the Bell and 
 frame while it hung in the steeple. 
 
 The model of this Bell was one cast by order of Henry III. 
 in the early part of the thirteenth century in memory of Edward 
 the Confessor, which was hung in the clock tower of Westmin- 
 ister, and was named St. Edward, but generally known as the 
 "great Tom of Westminister." 
 
 The Ringers of the Bell were Edward Kelly, 1753-5; David 
 Edward, 1755-8; Andrew McNair, 1759-76 (September 15), the 
 Ringer of the Proclamation of Independence. The last Ringer 
 of the Bell was Thomas Downing, 1827-36. 
 
 At the time of ordering the bell from Thomas Lester, the 
 Assembly reserved the right to send the bell they then had in 
 use to the firm in part payment for the new bell, as appears from 
 a resolution of the Assembly, August 13, 1754. They, however, 
 eventually determined to keep the old bell for public use and 
 pay the whole charge for the new Bell. This old bell was again 
 used when the Liberty Bell was taken down into the tower in 
 1 78 1, and from that time on probably struck the hours, as no 
 account of the purchase of any other bell appears in their pro- 
 ceedings. 
 
 The Liberty Bell has been removetl from the building on four 
 occasions: the first, during the Revolution, September, 1777, and 
 when taken from the city to New Orleans, January 23, 1885; 
 Chicago, April 25, 1893; Atlanta, October 24, 1895. 
 
 The frame has never been taken from the building from the 
 time it was first placed there in 1753, except for a short time 
 during the restoration in 1898, until the present time. 
 
14 
 
 THE LIBERTY BELL. 
 
 THE RESOLUTION FOR INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 June 7, 1776. Richard Henry Lee (.iTered in Congress his 
 resohition fur llie Independence of tlic Colonies: 
 
 RICHARD HENRY LEE. 
 
 "Resolved. Tliat tliese colonics arc and of right ought to be free 
 and independent Slalc^, that tlicy are absolved from all allegiance to 
 the British Crown and that all political connection between them and 
 the State of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved. 
 
 "That it is expedient fortliwuh to take the most effectual measures 
 for forming foreign alliances. 
 
 "That a plan of confederation he prepared and transmitted to the 
 several Colonies for their consideration and appro\al.'" 
 
 This res()hiti(.n with notes nuide dtn'ing its passage in the 
 liandwriting- of Kicliard Henry Lee is now in the Museum of 
 I^evolulionary Relies in tlie State House, l^hiladelphia. 
 
 John Adams secor.dcd the resolution and was one of its most 
 strenuous sujipi ^'ters, br.l so great was the individual resi)onsi- 
 bility considered, in introdtieing it in case of it> faihire in adop- 
 
rHI". I.IBKKTN RKLL. 
 
 15 
 
 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 tion, that neither the name of the mover nor the seconder appears 
 on the journah In order that no time might be lost in the event 
 of its passage, a committee of five consisting of Thomas Jefifer- 
 son, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and 
 Robert R. Livingston was appointed to prepare a declaration in 
 conformity with it. They were chosen b}- ballot on the iith of 
 June; Thomas JefTerson was made its chairman. On the 28th 
 of June, the committee submitted a draft of the paper and the 
 first day of July was fixed for final action upon it. On the 2d 
 of July the resolution for independency was passed finally. 
 Congress then resolved to take into farther consideration die 
 Declaration, and on the 3d and 4th of July, it was debated, para- 
 graph by paragraph. July 4th, 1776, in the evening, the Declar- 
 ation was adopted. To that hour the colonies had been united 
 in a common spirit of resistance to its exactions, but kept a wav- 
 ering loyalty to the British crown; from that hour, a line of sepa- 
 ration broke irregularlv through all orders and conditions of the 
 
i6 
 
 THE LIBERTY BELL. 
 
 jieoplc, wholly revolutionary. It was ikj longer a question of 
 tlie rights of the Englishmen or their representatives, but "the 
 dissolution" l)y the various naticjnalities here, the very large 
 majority of the whole population, of "all political connection 
 between them and the State of Great Britain" and "all allegiance 
 to the British Crown." 
 
 The same evening Congress, ordered that the Declaration be 
 authenticated and printed; that the committee who brought in 
 the Declaration be ordered to correct the press.* 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 ^■^''L 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 On the 5th of July Congress resolved that copies of tlie Decla- 
 ration be sent to the several asscmljlies, conventions and councils 
 of safety and the several ofificers of the Continental troops, and 
 that it be proclaimed in each of the L'nited States and at the 
 head of the army. These copies were printed and ready for dis- 
 tribution on the 6th. t 
 
 * Am. Arch. V. Series. Vol. 3, p. 15. 
 
 t These copies bore only the signature of the Presiilent, Jolm Hancock, aid the attesta- 
 tion of the Secretary, Charles Thomson. ^ 
 
THE LlBF.K'rV HIILL 
 
 17 
 
 Tliai (la\ tlu' C'ominitlcc oi Safety in riiilack-lphia sent tlie 
 copies tliey received to the ccjniniittees of Ikicks. Chester, 
 Northunil)erlan(l. Lancaster and I'erks Counties, with a letter re- 
 questing that the same be pubhslied the following Monday, the 
 8th instant. The}' then ordered that the Sheriff of Philadelphia 
 read or cause U) be read and proclaimed this Declaration at the 
 State House on that day, and that he cause all his officers and 
 the constables of the City to atteiid the readint;-. 
 
 'Iliey further resolved that ever\- meml)er of the committee 
 in or near the city be ordered to meet at their chamber l)efore 
 twelve o'clock that day to proceed to the State House, where the 
 Declaration was to Ik- proclaimed, and that the Committee of 
 Inspection be forthwith recpiested to attend the proclamation 
 at the State House. ( )n the same da}', the Conuiiittee of In- 
 spection having received and accepted the invitation, appointed 
 nine associators to go into the State House on that day and 
 lake from the King's Court, the King's arms, and ])lace theni 
 (in a pile of casks to be erected on the commons for the ])urpose 
 of a bonfire. 
 
 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 In CONGRES.S. July 4, 1776, 
 
 A DECLARATION 
 
 Jlv THE REPRESENTATIVES of the 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 
 
 In general CONGRESS assembled. 
 
 WHEN in the Course of Human Events, it becomes necessary for 
 one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have con- 
 nected thcni witli another, and to assume, among tlie Powers 
 ol the Eartli. the separate and equal station to which the Laws 
 of Nature and Nature's God entitle tliem. a decent Respect to the Opin- 
 ions of Mankiiul requires tliat tliey sliould declare the causes which 
 impel them lu ihe separation. 
 
 We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are Created 
 ei|ual: that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable 
 Rights ; that among these, arc Life. Liberty, and the Pursuit of H.ippi- 
 ness. That, to secure these Rights. Governments are instituted among 
 1^1 en, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that, 
 whenever any Form of Government becomes de--tructive of these Ends. 
 it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it. and to institute new 
 Government, laying its Foundation on sucli Piinciiiles. and organising 
 
l8 THE LIBERTY BELL. 
 
 its Powers in such Form, as to them sliall seem most hkely to effect 
 their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Govern- 
 ments long established, should not be changed for light and transient 
 Causes; and, accordingly, all Experience hath shown, that Mankind are 
 more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right them- 
 selves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But, 
 when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the 
 same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, 
 it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw otif such Government, and to 
 provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient 
 Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which 
 constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The 
 History of the present King of Great Britain is a History of repeated 
 injuries and Usurpations, all having, in direct Object, the Establishment 
 of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be 
 submitted to a candid World. 
 
 He has refused his Assent to Laws the most wholesome and neces- 
 sary for the public Good. 
 
 He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and 
 pressing Importance, unless suspended in their Operation till his Assent 
 should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to 
 attend to them. 
 
 He has refused to pass other Laws for the Accommodation of large 
 Districts of People, unless those People would relinquish the Right of 
 Representation in the Legislature, a Right inestimable to them, and 
 formidable to Tyrants only. 
 
 He has called together Legislative Bodies at Places unusual, uncom- 
 fortable, and distant from the Depository of their public Records, for the 
 sole Purpose of fatiguing them into Compliance with his Measures. 
 
 He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing, 
 with manly Firmness, his Invasions on the Rights of the People. 
 
 He has refused, for a long Time after such Dissolutions, to cause 
 others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Anni- 
 hilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the 
 State remaining, in the meantime, exposed to all the Dangers of In- 
 vasion from without and Convulsions within. 
 
 He has endeavored to prevent the Population of these States; for 
 that Purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; 
 refusing to pass others to encourage their Migrations hither, and raising 
 the Conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. 
 
 He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his 
 Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers. 
 
 He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the Tenure of 
 their Offices, and the Amount and Payment of their Salaries. 
 
 He has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms 
 of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their substance. 
 
 He has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies, without 
 the consent of our Legislature. 
 
 He has affected to render the Military independent of, and superior 
 to, the Civil Power. 
 
riiK Lii!i:kT\' r.i-.i.i. i^ 
 
 He has combined, witli others, to sul)joct us to a Jurisdiction foreign 
 to our Constitution and unacknowledged by our Laws; giving his Assent 
 to their /\cts of pretended Legislation: 
 
 For (luartering hirge Bodies of Armed Troojjs among us: 
 
 For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from I'unishment for any 
 Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: 
 
 For cutting off our Trade with all Parts of the World: 
 
 For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: 
 
 For depriving us, in many Cases, of the Benefit of Trial by jury: 
 
 For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended Ofifenses: 
 
 For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighboring 
 Province, establishing therein an arbitrary Government, and enlarging 
 its Boundaries, so as to render it at once an Example and fit Instrument 
 for introducing the same absolute Rule into these Colonies: 
 
 For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, 
 and altering, fundamentally, the Forms of our Governments: 
 
 For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves in- 
 vested with Power to legislate for us in all Cases whatsoever. 
 
 He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Pro- 
 tection and waging War against us. 
 
 He has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our Towns, 
 and destroyed the Lives of our People. 
 
 He is, at this Time, transporting large Armies of foreign Mercena- 
 ries to compleat the Works of Death, Desolation, and Tyranny, already 
 begun, with circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy scarcely paralleled in 
 the most barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized 
 Nation. 
 
 He has constrained our fellow Citizens, taken Captive on the high 
 Seas, to bear Arms against their Country, to become the Executioners of 
 their Friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their. Hands, 
 
 He has excited domestic Insm'rections amongst us, and has endeav- 
 ored to bring on the Inhabitants of our Frontiers the merciless Indian 
 Savages, whose known Rule of Warfare is an undistinguished Destruc- 
 tion of all Ages, Sexes, and Conditions. 
 
 In every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress. 
 in the most humble Terms; our repeated Petitions have been answered 
 only by repeated Injury. A Prince, whose Character is thus marked by 
 every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free 
 People. 
 
 Nor have \vc been wanting in Attentions to our British Brethren. 
 
 We have warned them, from Time to Time, of .Vttempts made b_\- 
 their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable Jurisdiction over us. We 
 have reminded them of the Circumstances of our Emigration and Settle- 
 ment here. We have appealed to their native Justice and Magnanimity, 
 and we have conjured them, by the Ties of our common Kindred, to 
 disavow these Usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our Con- 
 nections and Correspondence. They, too. have been deaf to the Voice 
 of Justice and Consanguinity. We must, therefore. ac(iuiesce in the 
 
20 
 
 Till-: LIBERTY BELL. 
 
 Necessity, wliich tlLnounccs our Separation, and hold them as we liold 
 the rest of Mankind. Enemies in War in Peace. Friends. 
 
 V\'e. therefore, the Representatives ni tlie UNITED STATES OF 
 AMERICA, in Gf.nekal Congress Assembled, appealing to the 
 Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, 
 m the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, 
 solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of 
 Right ought to be. Frkk AiXD Inuependent States; that they are ab- 
 solved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political 
 Connexion between them and the State of Great Britain, is. and ought 
 to be, totally dissolved; and that, as Free and Independent States, 
 they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, 
 establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Inde- 
 pendent States may of right do. And. for the support of this Declara- 
 tion, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we 
 nuitually pledge to each other, our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred 
 Honor. 
 
 Signed by order and in behalf of the Congress. 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK, President. 
 
 Attest: 
 
 CHARLi:S THOMSON. Si:. retarv. 
 
 THE PROCLAMATION OF THE DECLARATION. 
 
 On the morning- of the 8th, Ix^tween tlie hours of eleven and 
 twelve, the great Hell in tlie State House rang the proclamation. 
 At eleven o'clock the Committee of Safety assembled in tlieir 
 chamber (the Lodge), to attend the proclamation. There were 
 
 present George Clymer. C'liairman, 
 j(isei)h Parker. James r>iddle. ] )a- 
 \\d Ritteidiouse, ( )wen liiddle, 
 Tliomas Wharton, Jr., Michael 
 Hillegas, JohnCadwalader.Cieorge 
 Gra\', Samuel Howell. Samuel 
 ]\Iorris, James Mease and Jnhn 
 Nixon. 
 
 At the same hour the Commillee 
 of Inspecdon met at the I'hilo- 
 stiphical Hall and i)r(jceeded in a 
 body to join the Committee of 
 Safety. The two bodies, the Com- 
 mittee of Safet}- ])rece(]ing. then 
 GEORGE CLYMER. ^vent two by two in proces- 
 
Till-: I.Il'.l■".l^;'l■^■ I'.i-i.f.. 21 
 
 sion to the State 1 louse \ar(l. 'i'lic order of the ])rocession 
 was: — first, the constables with tlieir staffs; the Sheriff, William 
 Dewees, and the coroner. Robert Jewell, and their deputies car- 
 r\ ini;' the white wands of their office; the nicnd)ers of the Ccjni- 
 mittee of Safety as named above, preceded b}- the Chairman, 
 followed these, and after them the Committee of Inspection in 
 a body. 
 
 .Vfter these ordinarily, according to the custom of the times, 
 would have followed the "town's gentlemen ;" these were con- 
 spicuous b}' their absence; some were sequestered in their man- 
 sions, others were in the neighboring jails. 
 
 That day the colonies were in the midst of the Revolution. 
 
 The upper rooms of the State House were magazines for arms; 
 "east and west of it. in barracks, were munitions of war. The yard 
 was enclosed with a wall, a great gateway on its south side. 
 Separated by a street's width from the gateway ran the dark 
 walls of a prison overlooking the yard, from the windows of it- 
 upper stories. Cannon were ranged along the sides of the yard: 
 guards of soldiers were near them. Wagons carr\ing ammuni- 
 tion, powder, and military stores to the cit_\- were standing here 
 and there. .Some trees were along its borders. notal)lv two 
 willow trees hanging over the great gate; for the rest, it was 
 rough ground, broken ])y the ruts of the wagon wheels and the 
 lioof prints oi the horses. 
 
 The stand from which the lJ)ecIaration was to be read was a 
 platform built out from an old observatory toward the east side 
 of the _\ard; it was surroimded by a railing and reached bv a 
 stairway from the ground; all around it was open to the sunlight. 
 
 There was a large assemblage of the people there, resolute 
 men, vvho had, that morning, been sunmioned b\- the ringing of 
 the great Ik'll. for their Independence, as they had been man\- 
 times bef(jre for the redress of their grievances under the Hrilish 
 crown. Through the grated windows of the pri.-on. men looked 
 down on the crowd with hatred, contempt or indift'erence; a 
 numlx'r of respectable citizens, in the new nomenclature of the 
 times "Tories," had been haled there by the Committees of the 
 people; their names, titles and lineage ])reserved at the time, 
 have long years ago jiassed intcj oblivion. With these were 
 debtors, prisoners of war. and felons of all grades. 
 
22 
 
 THE LIBERTY BELL. 
 
 Passino^ through the assem'- 
 blage, the Committee reached, 
 by the stairway, the platform; 
 the P>cl! ceased ring-ing-. John 
 A'ixon, to whom the Sheriff had 
 delegated the reading, stood up 
 in the silence; he was a strong 
 voiced and open featured man; 
 he had been and remained true 
 to the struggle to his life's close. 
 He began the reading with the 
 words 'In Congress July 4, 1776. 
 A Declaration of the Represen- 
 tatives of the Linited States of 
 America." This opening sen- 
 tence was received with applause 
 
 and throughout the whole read- 
 JOHN NIXON . , . 1 ,., , 
 
 mg, which was so audible as to 
 
 be heard distinctly beyond the borders of the yard, there was 
 repeated applause. At its close, as was written at the time by 
 one of the members of the Committee of Inspection, Christo- 
 pher Marshall, tlien present, 'it was accepted with general ap- 
 plause and heartfelt satisfaction." The stalwart old Ringer* rang 
 the great Bell once more. The audience dispersed to their homes. 
 In the evening the regulators appointed on the 6th instant by the 
 Inspection Committee, took down their late king's coat of arms 
 from the hall in the State House where the said king's courts had 
 been held to tliat hour, and carried them thence to the common, 
 where piling casks one upon the other and these arms upon them, 
 set all on fire and burned them to ashes amid the acclamations of 
 a great crowd of citizens. It was a long day of sunshine, and 
 "the night," as it was also written at the time, "was starlight and 
 beautiful." 
 
 From this date the Pell continued to record the events of the 
 Revolution and the after time of peace, to 1835. At that date its 
 mission was ending, the independence of the country had been 
 firmly established and the great actors in the drama had passed 
 away. 
 
 Jefferson, Washington, Lee, Adams, Franklin, Morris and 
 
 * Andrew McNair — he rang the Bell during all the Revolutionary era — 1759-76 — it was 
 his last ringing of the Bell, his work terminated 16 September, 1776. 
 
THE LIBERTY BELL. 23 
 
 Henry were dead, and of all of that immortal list of names, the 
 signers of the Declaration, not one remained. John Marshall, 
 Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, a sol- 
 dier in that revolution, survived; he sat in judgment on the 
 finished work and gave the measure of its strength and power for 
 the people. 
 
 JOHN MARSHALL. 
 
 July 8, 1835.— THE BELL TOLLED FOR THE LAST 
 TIME. John ALirsliall died in Philadelphia on the 6th day of 
 July, 1835; his remains were on the day of the anniversary of 
 the first proclamation of the Declaration to the people borne to 
 \'irginia for burial, and during the funeral solenmities the bell, 
 while slowly tolling, parted through ils great side, and was silent 
 henceforth, forever. 
 
 It had lived out its life as hien live out their lives, its work 
 was done. It had called the people together many years, to pre- 
 serve their rights under the ilritish crown. It had rung out its 
 clamorous defiance on that great day of the proclamation of the 
 
24 
 
 THI-: LIBERTY BELL. 
 
 Declaration of their independence. It had glorified all the anni- 
 versaries of that independence. It had bewailed the great dead 
 of the nation. Henceforth it remains in its ancient place, THE 
 SILENT SYMBOL OE LIliERTY THROUGHOUT ALL 
 THE LAND. 
 
 THE NOTABLE EVENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE 
 
 BELL. 
 
 August 2J. 1/53, ll-e Bell called the nieiubers of the Assembly' 
 together for the first time in llie State House. 
 
 May 17, 1755. again when the Assembly declared "tliey would not 
 make laws by direction."" 
 
 February 3. 1757, when they sent 'AIr. Fuaxklix'" ""Homi-: to 
 E.Nf.t.AND'" to solicit redress for their griex'ances. 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 October _'6, 1764, when they sent "Ben.ta.mix Franklin. E.'^o.," to 
 ■Gri:at Britain'" to transact the affairs of the Province. 
 
Till': LiHi:irrN' r>i-:LL. 
 
 25 
 
 Septcmbor q, 17O5. when ihc .\sscii!l)ly considered a resolution for 
 a Congress ol the colonies. A great landing stage of the Revolution. 
 
 October 5, 1765, "muffled and tolled." it called the meeting together 
 when the ship. Royal Charlotte, bearing stamps for Pennsylvania, New 
 Jersey and Delaware reached Philadelphia. At this meeting the demand 
 was made and enforced that the stamps should not be landed but trans- 
 ferred to his Majesty's royal man-of-war. the "Sardine." to be returned 
 to England. 
 
 October 31. 1765. "muffled and tuUed." it rang all day long when 
 the Stamp Act was put in operation. Some of the people stayed in 
 their houses mourning the death of liberty; others in the street, met 
 together, and burned the stamp papers at the cofifee-house. 
 
 April 25, 1768, it assembled the people in the State House yard 
 to protest against the Acts of Parliament closing the planing and slitting 
 mills and the manufacture of iron and steel in Pennsylvania; the affixing 
 the King's arrow on pine trees, and the cutting off of tlie trade of the 
 colonies in all parts of the world. 
 
 July 30. 1768. it called a meeting in the State House yard in which 
 it was said that "the Parliament of Great Britain has reduced the people 
 here to the level of slaves." 
 
 December 2~, 1773, it called together the largest meeting that had 
 ever assembled in the State House yard. At this meeting it was resolved 
 that the ship "Polly. " then coming up to the City with tea and a miscel- 
 laneous cargo, should not be permitted to land. The committee ap- 
 pointed at this meeting, followed by the citizens generally, sent the 
 whole cargo with the tea, the captain and the consignee, from the wharf 
 at Arch street, to its "old Rotterdam place in Leadenhall street, 
 London." They wouJd not have "the detestable tea funnelled down their 
 throats with Parliament's duty mixed with it," they said at this meeting, 
 and that "no power on earth had the right to tax them without their 
 consent." 
 
 June I, 1774, "muftled and tolled." it rang on the announcement of 
 the closing of the port of Boston. A meeting held in the Sciuare pro- 
 tested against this action of Parliament. 
 
 June 18. 1774. it called a meeting to relieve the Boston sufferers.* 
 
 April 25, 1775, after the battle of Lexington, it called eight thousand 
 of the citizens by actual computation, to the Square, who pledged them- 
 selves to the cause of liberty. 
 
 July 8. 1776. it proclaimed tiie Declaration of Independence. 
 
 July 4. 1777. it commemorated tiie first anniversary of the passage 
 of the Declaration. 
 
 * The subsciiptioii raised in Philadelphia for this purpose amounted to ^2000. The 
 Friends of Philadelphia Meeting subscribed ^"2540 in gold. York County ^246 8s. lod., 
 Salem County ^420. The City and Liberties 1160 barrels of flour, 100 hogsheads of sugar 
 also, went from the port of Philadelphia collected in St. Croix and looi barrels of rice from 
 St. John's Palish, Georgia. 
 
26 
 
 THE LIBERTY BELL. 
 
 October 24. 1781, it announced the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at 
 Yorktown.* 
 
 November 2T, 1781, it welcomed the Commander-in-Chief of the 
 armies of the Free States to the City. 
 
 April 16, 1783, it proclaimed the Treaty of Peace. 
 
 December 26, 1799, it rang during the funeral solemnities following 
 the death of Washington. 
 
 September 29, 1824, it welcomed Lafayette to the City. 
 
 July 4, 1826, it ushered in the fiftieth anniversary of the passage 
 of the Declaration, "the year of jubilee" written in the passage which 
 gave its motto to the Bell. 
 
 July 24, 1826, it commemorated the death of John Adams and 
 Thomas Jefiferson. 
 
 July 21, 1834, it commemorated the death .of Lafayette. 
 
 THE ITINERARIES OF THE BELL. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA TO ALLENTOWX. 1777. 
 
 CARRYING THE BELL TO ALLENTOWN. 
 
 The first journey of the Bell from the State House was for its 
 preservation. The 26th of September, 1777, the headquarters of the 
 British Army were at the State House and their Artillery Park was in 
 
 * This surrender ended British domination over the colonies. "The requisites for the 
 campaign endmg at Yorktown, were 70 to 80 pieces of battering cannon and 100 of field 
 artillery, together with provisions and pay for the army. The expenditures on these accounts 
 amounted to 51,400,000, and were provided for on the credit of Robert Morris, a merchant of 
 Pliiladelphia. There was no money in the War Office chest. The credit of the colonief. 
 was gone." Mr. Morris had given his name to the great Declaration; he repeated the 
 signature on his notes during the Revolution to its close, which were all, inclusive of the 
 above, at maturity, paid. His diary, now in ihe possession of the Government, is one long 
 record of his struggle to feed his troops and support Washington. 
 
THE LIBKRTV BILL. 27 
 
 the State House yard. Sonn' days IjclOro llic entry of this army into 
 the City, the Bell had been taken down from the steeple. The repre- 
 sentatives of the people had removed from the State House and the 
 British Army from that time until the following spring, in rout and 
 revelry ruled the City. The State House became a hospital for our 
 woimded and a morgue for the dead. 
 
 The Bell was conveyed with the whole heavy bagg.age of the Army 
 in a continuous train of 700 wagons guarded l)y two hundred North 
 Carolina and Virginia soldiers, to Allentown. In a diary kept in Bethle- 
 hem during the year 1777, this incident <jf the journey is i)reserved: 
 "September 29, the wagon which conveyed the State House lUdl broke 
 down in the street and had to be unloaded." 
 
 The Bell was away from the City from i8th September, 1777, to June 
 27, 1778. Its itinerary was a very brief one: Philadelphia to German- 
 town, to Bethlehem, to Allentown. While in Allentown it was in the 
 Zion's Church. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA TO NEW ORLEANS. 1885. 
 
 Leave Piue.^delpiiia, Pa., Friday. January 23, at 10 .\. .\1.. arrive 
 Lancaster, Friday, January 23d, 12 M.; arrive Harrisburg, Friday, Jan- 
 uary 23d, at 1.20 P. M.; arrive at Altoona, Friday, January 23d, at 5 
 P. M.; arrive at Pittsburg, Friday, January 23d. at 9.50 P. M.; arrive 
 at Columbus, Ohio, Saturday, January 24th, at 5.30 A. M.; arrive at 
 Cincinnati, Saturday, January 24th. at 10.30 A. M.; arrive at Louisville, 
 Ky., January 24th, at 6 P. M.; arrive Nashville, Tenn., Stinday, January 
 25th, at 8 A. M.; arrive at Birmingham. .\la., Sunday, January 25th, at 
 3 P. M.; arrive at Montgomery, Sunday, January 25th, at 6 P. M.; 
 arrive at Mobile, Monday. January 26th. at 8 A. M.; arrive at New Or- 
 leans, La., Monday, January 26th, at 12 M. 
 
 This itinerary was marked by patriotic demonstrations in the cities 
 and at all the intermediate stations — ringing of church bells. "[booming 
 cannon, music, shouting of the people. When darkness came on a'nd all 
 through the night in Western Pennsylvania bonfires on the hills, furnace 
 fires, streams of Bame from the wells, long lines of torches at the sta- 
 tions, lighted its way. When the morning broke crowds of people were ; 
 waiting, at the staticjns, and ;dl tlircnigh the day it was the same — \ , 
 one continucnis ovation along the s\\ iflly-nioxing line of its journey, 
 night and day. 
 
 Never will be forgotten by those who made the journey, the groups 
 of farmers with their wives and children, the miners with their lamps, 
 the groups of black laborers standing together in silence, conscious 
 that the mission of the Bell was for them in the later time as it was 
 for us in the Revolution. 
 
 Beauvoir, the home of the e.x-President of the Confederacy, was the 
 last stopj)ing place of its journey: Mr. l)a\is came from a sick bed to 
 
28 THE LIBERTY BELL. 
 
 look oil the Bell for the last time. "I thank you," he said, "]\layor Guil- 
 lottc, and you, gentlemen of the Committee, for this privilege, and most 
 sincerely I trust that your anticipations of the harmonizing tendencies 
 of this journey may he in every respect fully realized. I believe," he 
 continued, "that the time has come when reason should be substituted 
 for passion, and when men should be able to do justice to each other." 
 Turning from the assemblage to the Bell, he said: "You, sacred organ, 
 gave voice to the proudest declaration that a handful of men ever made 
 when they faced the greatest military power on the globe, when they 
 declared to all the world their inalienable rights, and staked life, liberty, 
 and property in del'ense of their declaration. Then it was with your 
 clear tones you sent notice to all who were willing to live or die for 
 liberty and felt that the day was at hand when every patriot must do a 
 patriot's duty." Bending his uncovered head before it, he said: "Glo- 
 rious' old Bell! the son of a Revolutionary soldier bows in reverence 
 before you." 
 
 From Beauv(Tir the car went on directly to New Orleans — the city of 
 the final struggle with the British throne — where the day of its arrival 
 was made a legal holiday, and a great multitude of people welcomed 
 y_its comin g. 
 
 It was accompanied by W'm. B. Smith, then the Mayor of Philadel- 
 phia, with a committee of Councils as its custodian through the whole 
 journey. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA TO CIHCAGO, 1893. 
 
 Leave Philadelphia, P.\., Tuesday, April 25th, at 10 A. M.. arrive 
 Plarrisburg, Tuesday, April 25th, at 1.15 P. IM.; arrive Erie, Wednesday, 
 April 26th, 4 A. M.\ arrive Corry, 1.30 P. Ak; arrive Oil City, Wednes- 
 day, April 26th, 3.25 P. M.; arrive Pittsburg, Wednesday, April 26th, 
 7.30 P. M.: arrive Cleveland, Thursday. April 27th, 12 ]\L; arrive Colum- 
 bus, Thursday, April 27th, 8 P. M.; arrive Indianapolis, Friday, April 
 28th, 5 A. M.; arrive Chicago, Friday, April 28th, 9 P. M. 
 
 As it was on the former journey, from the day the Bell left its 
 place in the Hall of our Independence, marked by a great demon- 
 stration of patriotic jiride and solicitude for its care, to the day it 
 arrived in Chicago, the journey was a continuous ovation, crowded 
 with never-to-be-forgotten incidents at every stopping place along the 
 whole thousand miles of the counties and States which were, when it 
 first rang, -^©iie unbroken wilderness. There were the same groups of 
 farmers and miners; the same, and even greater, crowds at the stations, 
 but more notably among them on this occasion were the school children, 
 many thousands in every State along the line of the journey; some 
 to follow it with longing eyes as it swiftly passed, some to surround 
 it when it stopped and. with armfuls of flowers, to wreathe around it 
 the expression of their childish love and reverence. The air was filled 
 with their songs at some of these stations. 
 
'nil'; j.ii!i;k r\' ni:i.i.. 
 
 29 
 
 IndianapuHs was llic last stopping place bcioii.- (.lUcriiig Chicagt). 
 and liero llic ilicn la-^t survivor of tlic ex-Presidciils 01 the nation wci- 
 .comed llie Bell. Standing in the midst of a great group of these chil- 
 dren — twelve thousand of them, of the common schools of that city — 
 Mr. Flarrison said to the Committee: "I thank you for the privilege 
 you have given us to see this sacred Bell, and rejfjice with you that the 
 patriotic demonstrations of this journey have been greater even than 
 the former. This I believe, gentlemen." he said, "is the result of 
 the marvelous development of the general education of the incoming 
 generation, upon which rests the perpetuity of our institutions them- 
 selves, for what the fortress was to former civilizations the school 
 house IS to ours: established in every part of our country and for 
 every (^ne of its popnlalion, the flag of the nation floating over every 
 one." 
 
 Mr. Harrison then, looking out over the great throng of the people 
 surrounding the central group of the eager, happy children, said: 
 "This old Bell was cast in England, but it was recast in America. It 
 was when this was done that it clearly and to all the world proclaimed 
 the right of self government and the equal rights of man, and therein 
 it is a type of what our institutions are doing for the immigration from 
 all lands who heard its tones over the water a century ago, and who 
 come here to be recast, as it were, into the citizenship of the nation. 
 I will say no more. The Bell itself is here, repeating to us throtigh 
 all its silence the great story of the nation." 
 
 At Chicago the final demonstration was among the greatest of the 
 events of that assemblage of the nations. Its return to Philadelphia 
 was marked by the most impressive ceremonies, the inilitary and civic 
 bodies of the city and the whole municipality being represented in the 
 tscort bearing it home. 
 
 PHILADELIMII.V TO ATLANTA, 1895. 
 
 Leavk Philadelphia. Pa.. Friday. October 4th. 1895. 8.00 A. M.. 
 pass Chester. Pa., 8.31 A. M.: arrive Wilmington, Del., 8.53 A. M.: 
 arrive Elkton, Md., 9.22 A M: arrive Baltimore, Md., 10.44 A. M.; arrive 
 Washington, D. C, 12.17 P- ^i- arrive Alexandria, Va., 2.15 P. M.: 
 arrive Quantico. Va., 3.10 P. M.\ arrive Fredericksburg. Va., 3.53 P. M.: 
 arrive Milford, Va., 5.15 P. M.; arrive Doswell, Va., 5.52 P. M.; arrive 
 Ashland, Va.. 6.07 P. M.; arrive Richmond, Va.. 7.13 P. AI. Saturday. 
 October 5th. 1S95, leave Richmond, Va., 8.00 A. M.: arrive Petersburg. 
 Va., 9.00 A. M.; arrive Nottoway Court House, Va.. ii.20 A. M.\ arrive 
 Crewe, Va., 11.40 A. .M.: arrive Farmville, \^a., 12.35 P- ^^■'- arrive 
 Lynchburg, Va., 2.30 P. ^[.: arrive Bedford, Va., 4.25 P. M.; arrive 
 Roanoke, \'a., 5.40 P. M.: arrive Christiansburg, Va.. 9.10 A. M.; arrive 
 Wytheville, Va.. 11.00 A. M.: arrive Glade Spring. \'a., 12.30 P. M.: 
 East Radford, \^a., 9.40 A. M.; arrive Wytheville, \'a.. 11.00 A. M.; 
 
30 THE LIBERTY BELL. 
 
 arrive Glade Spring, Va., '2.30 P. M.; arrive Bristol, Tenn.. cistern time, 
 1.30 P. M.; central time, 2.30 P. M.: arrive Johnson City, Tenn., 3.40 
 P. M.; arrive Greenville, Tenn., 4.47 P. ^L : arrive ]\Iorristown, Tenn., 
 5.50 P. M.; arrive Knoxville. Tenn., 7.00 P. AI. Monday, October 7th, 
 arrive Loudon. Tenn., 8.50 A. M.; arrive .\thens, Tenn., 9.35 A. M.; 
 arrive Cleveland, Tenn., 10.25 A. AT; arrive Cliattanooga, Tenn.. 11.30 
 A, M.; arrive Dalton, Ga., 8.50 A. ^NL; arrive Rome, Ga., 10.45 A. M.; 
 ; arrive Atlanta, Ga. (central time), 2.00 P. M., October 8th. 
 
 Going and returning the Bell received from every city equal 
 iionor. Men, women and cln'ldrcn filled every cross-road. At 
 Petersburg they were officially welcomed. At Roanoke, all busi- 
 ness was suspended ; many thousands were gathered there and 
 a platoon of soldiers guarded the Bell during the night. At 
 Bedford, tlic whole population were grouped l^eneath spreading 
 trees that lined the railroad track. At Lynchburg, the Council of 
 the city received the Bell. A cannon gave the presidential salute. 
 Twenty thousand people were gathered there in holiday attire 
 from all the surrounding country. At Rome, the children were 
 given a holiday and a great throng with flags and music wel- 
 comed the Bell. At Richmond, the capital of the State, a great ova- 
 tion was given, going and returning. At Greensboro, two thou- 
 sand school children welcomed it. It was taken to Guilford Court 
 House battle ground. At Athens, Knox:ville, and Chattanooga, 
 these welcomings were repeated. At Cleveland, the girl gradu- 
 ates, wearing gowns and mortar boards, one hundred of them, 
 received the Bell. Seldom has a living man, whatever his place, 
 been welcomed as this mute witness of our nation's great deliver- 
 ance. At Atlanta, the streets through which it passed were 
 thronged with people; the Bell itself was covered with flowers 
 thrown upon it diu'ing the route. As it neared the grounds it 
 passed through a solid wall of cheering people. Upon its entry 
 into the grounds, Piedmont Park, it was accompanied by a 
 military procession; the Pennsylvania Building, before which it 
 was placed, was throng-ed with children; children were clamber- 
 ing over the park ground fences; they were on the streets, in the 
 trees, and everywhere where foothold could be obtained; the 
 roadway was so thronged here that the wagon ])assed along very 
 slowdy. Old people were among the groups whose grandfathers 
 had been in the Revolution that Bell had proclaimed. So miaiiy 
 thousands together made a most memorable spectacle. At the 
 stand a prayer was said very earnestly and solemnly; the childreri, 
 
THK IJBKRTV P.KLL. 
 
 31 
 
 
 two tlioiisand of them, broke out into songs. ^ Words of welcome, 
 appropriate to the occasion, were given by Porter King, the 
 Mayor of the city, who presented Cliarles F. Warwick, Mayor 
 of Philadelphia, as the custodian of the Bell. Vlx. Warwick said, 
 in the course of an address remarkable for its earnestness and elo- 
 quence: "We hold this Bell in trust for the nation; we 
 confide it to your care." Governor .-Xtkinson, in his reply, said 
 "that that trust would be well reposed on them: that none were 
 more sensible than the people of that State that in their keeping 
 was the most precious relic of the nation." The formal cere- 
 monies over, the women and children were given the first place 
 around it; among these, a blind boy was lifted to it and read 
 with his fingers the inscription. 
 
NoTii. — The Resolutions for Independence i>n ]). 14 are printed 
 from the original co])y now in the .Museum of Revolutionary Relics in 
 the State House. 
 
 The Declaration (jf Independence on p. 17 is printed from tb.e 
 original Broadside from which it was read in the State House yard, July 
 8. 1776, and now in the possession of ^Irs. Charles Custis Harrison. 
 
 This Declaration with the style and title made ■"unanimous." was 
 on the 19th of July ordered to be engrossed and signed by the members. 
 Tliis was done August 2d. Some signatures were, however, appended 
 at a later date — Matthew Thonuon and Thomas McKean among these 
 The engrossed copy, with the whole number — 56 signatures — is now in 
 the Department of State, Washington. 
 
 "The notable events," p. 10 and \). 24, and "The Proclamation, ' p. 20, 
 are compiled entirely from original records, documents and accounts 
 written at the time of their occurrence. 
 
 CHARLES S. KEYSER. 
 
LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 
 
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