Declaring independence

On July 2, 1776, Congress voted to declare independence. Two days later, it ratified the text of the declaration. John Dunlap, official printer to Congress, worked through the night to set the declaration in type and print approximately 200 copies. These copies, known as the Dunlap Broadsides, were sent to various committees, assemblies and commanders of the Continental troops. The Dunlap Broadsides weren’t signed, but John Hancock’s name appears in large type at the bottom. One copy crossed the Atlantic, reaching King George III months later. The official British response scolded the “misguided Americans” and “their extravagant and inadmissible Claim of Independency.”

Source: National Archives

Creating the parchment declaration

On July 19, once all 13 colonies had signified their approval of the Declaration of Independence, Congress ordered that it be “fairly engrossed on parchment.” (To “engross” is to write in a large, clear hand.) Timothy Matlack, an assistant to the Secretary of the Congress, was most likely the penman.

Source: National Archives

Our symbol of freedom

“The Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World” was a gift of friendship from the people of France to the United States and is recognized as a universal symbol of freedom and democracy. The Statue of Liberty was dedicated on Oct. 28, 1886. It was designated as a national monument in 1924. Employees of the National Park Service have been caring for the colossal copper statue since 1933. The park is closed right now because of COVID-19 but you can see the view from the torch online at https://www.nps.gov/stli/index.htm.

Source: National Park Service

The Liberty Bell

The State House bell, now known as the Liberty Bell, rang in the tower of the Pennsylvania State House. Today, we call that building Independence Hall. Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly Isaac Norris first ordered a bell for the bell tower in 1751 from the Whitechapel Foundry in London. That bell cracked on the first test ring. Local metalworkers John Pass and John Stow melted down that bell and cast a new one right here in Philadelphia. It’s this bell that would ring to call lawmakers to their meetings and the townspeople together to hear the reading of the news.

No one recorded when or why the Liberty Bell first cracked, but the most likely explanation is that a narrow split developed in the early 1840s after nearly 90 years of hard use. In 1846, when the city decided to repair the bell before George Washington’s birthday holiday (Feb. 23), metal workers widened the thin crack to prevent its farther spread and restore the tone of the bell using a technique called “stop drilling.” The wide “crack” in the Liberty Bell is actually the repair job! Look carefully and you’ll see over 40 drill bit marks in that wide “crack.”

But the repair was not successful. The Public Ledger newspaper reported that the repair failed when another fissure developed. This second crack, running from the abbreviation for “Philadelphia” up through the word “Liberty,” silenced the bell forever. No one living today has heard the bell ring freely with its clapper, but computer modeling provides some clues into the sound of the Liberty Bell. You can hear it ring at https://www.nps.gov/inde/index.htm.

Source: National Park Service

Hidden in Allentown

When the Continental Army under the command of George Washington lost the Battle of Brandywine on Sept. 11, 1777, it left Philadelphia essentially unprotected. Recognizing that the city’s bells would likely be melted down to create weapons for the British army, a group of Philadelphians devised a plan to whisk the bells out of the city.

The Liberty Bell and other large bells from city churches were secreted out of the city. The bells arrived in Bethlehem on Sept. 23.

The following day, the 11 bells were hidden under the basement floorboards in Zion’s Reformed Church in Allentown (known at the time as Northampton Town).

The bells would stay hidden at the church until the British left Philadelphia in June 1778. However, the Pennsylvania State House’s bell tower was damaged, and the Liberty Bell was placed in storage until 1785.

See it yourself

You can see a replica of the Liberty Bell at the museum at 622 Hamilton St. in Allentown.

Wilmer Behler’s hand-painted mural tells the story of the hiding of the bells.

The Liberty Bell Museum is located in historic Zion’s Reformed United Church of Christ in Allentown, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. The site of the first church in Allentown, it was used as a refuge during Indian raids, a revolutionary war hospital, a gathering place for the reading of the Declaration of Independence, and more.