The Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, like many other American patriotic symbols, are not what the traditional national narrative claims it to be. For example, the Star Spangled Banner written at Fort McHenry came from the War of 1812, an expansionist American war of aggression against the British Empire, which they lost. Likewise, the cry of an eagle that echoes through the Grand Canyon in Hollywood movies is but the sound from a hawk—an eagle has a gentle chirp.
Rumored to be the bell that rang on Independence Day, 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was signed and read at Independence Hall, there is no evidence to show that Liberty Bell rang that week. In fact, the bells didn’t ring until July 8 because the declaration wasn’t read to the public until four days after it was signed. We know that bells rang to call townspeople to Sunday service and men to public meetings, and we know bells rang on July 8, but nobody knows which particular bells were rung. It’s a symbol of independence that may not have participated in it.
The iconic crack we’ve come to know from National Treasure wasn’t the first crack on the bell. After it arrived from England in the 1750s, it developed a crack the first time it was rung and was melted down and recast by the colonists. Less than a century later, a crack formed again. There were multiple discussions on repairs and recasting, but the bell is still with its cracks on the body and cracks in its story.
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