Last updated: February 25, 2025
Article
“The Liberty Bell.” in The Anti-Slavery Record – February 1835
Courtesy of New York Public Library, HathiTrust Digital Library.
Title: “The Liberty Bell.” in The Anti-Slavery Record – February 1835
Date: 1835
Location: Published in New York
Object Information: Paper document
Repository: New York Public Library, HathiTrust Digital Library, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433075934947&seq=35.
Description:
In February 1835, a contributing writer to the abolitionist monthly publication The Anti-Slavery Record, visited the Pennsylvania State House (known today as Independence Hall) and looked closely at the State House Bell. Seeing the biblical inscription on the bell “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants Thereof” as a prophecy, the author called it the Liberty Bell. This was the earliest known recorded instance of the State House Bell being called the Liberty Bell. Slavery was still legal in the United States in 1835, and there were more than 2 million Black people enslaved. The author further exclaimed: “May not the emancipationists in Philadelphia, hope to live to hear the same bell rung, when liberty shall in fact be proclaimed to all the inhabitants of this favored land?”
Date: 1835
Location: Published in New York
Object Information: Paper document
Repository: New York Public Library, HathiTrust Digital Library, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433075934947&seq=35.
Description:
In February 1835, a contributing writer to the abolitionist monthly publication The Anti-Slavery Record, visited the Pennsylvania State House (known today as Independence Hall) and looked closely at the State House Bell. Seeing the biblical inscription on the bell “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants Thereof” as a prophecy, the author called it the Liberty Bell. This was the earliest known recorded instance of the State House Bell being called the Liberty Bell. Slavery was still legal in the United States in 1835, and there were more than 2 million Black people enslaved. The author further exclaimed: “May not the emancipationists in Philadelphia, hope to live to hear the same bell rung, when liberty shall in fact be proclaimed to all the inhabitants of this favored land?”
TRANSCRIPT
NEGLECTED CHRISTIAN DUTY. 23
THE LIBERTY BELL.
Being in Philadelphia a few days since, I was invited after viewing the room in which the Declaration of Independence was signed, to ascend the tower of the old State House, to take a view of the city. The view was delightful. On our ascent, we did not fail to examine the celebrated Bell. It weighs 2300 pounds, and was cast 23 years before the Declaration of Independence was signed. On that occasion it was rung, and has been rung every 22d February and 4th of July since. It is remarkable that the following inscription was on the bell when it was cast. It was considered a sort of prophecy: “PROCLAIM LIBERTY THROUGHOUT ALL THE LAND, AND TO ALL THE INHABITANTS THEREOF.” May not the emancipationists in Philadelphia, hope to live to hear the same bell rung, when liberty shall in fact be proclaimed to all the inhabitants of this favored land? Hitherto, the bell has not obeyed the inscription; and its peals have been a mockery, while one sixth of “all the inhabitants” are in abject slavery.
NEGLECTED CHRISTIAN DUTY. 23
THE LIBERTY BELL.
Being in Philadelphia a few days since, I was invited after viewing the room in which the Declaration of Independence was signed, to ascend the tower of the old State House, to take a view of the city. The view was delightful. On our ascent, we did not fail to examine the celebrated Bell. It weighs 2300 pounds, and was cast 23 years before the Declaration of Independence was signed. On that occasion it was rung, and has been rung every 22d February and 4th of July since. It is remarkable that the following inscription was on the bell when it was cast. It was considered a sort of prophecy: “PROCLAIM LIBERTY THROUGHOUT ALL THE LAND, AND TO ALL THE INHABITANTS THEREOF.” May not the emancipationists in Philadelphia, hope to live to hear the same bell rung, when liberty shall in fact be proclaimed to all the inhabitants of this favored land? Hitherto, the bell has not obeyed the inscription; and its peals have been a mockery, while one sixth of “all the inhabitants” are in abject slavery.