The Liberty Bell is one of the iconic symbols of American independence. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it most likely was rung to mark the public reading of the American Declaration of Independence on July 8, 1776. The bell was commissioned from the London firm of Lester and Pack (today the Whitechapel Bell Foundry) in 1752, and was inscribed with part of a verse from the Book of Leviticus (25:10): "Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." It originally cracked when first rung after arrival in Philadelphia, and was twice recast by local workmen John Pass and John Stow, whose last names appear on the bell. The bell hung for years in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House (today known as Independence Hall), and was used to summon lawmakers to legislative sessions and to alert citizens to public meetings and proclamations. Bells were rung to mark the reading of the Declaration on July 8, 1776, and while there is no contemporary account of the Liberty Bell ringing, most historians believe it was one of the bells rung. It acquired its distinctive large crack sometime in the early 19th century—a widespread story claims it cracked while ringing after the death of Chief Justice John Marshall in 1835. Beginning in 1885, the City of Philadelphia, which owns the bell, allowed it to go to various expositions and patriotic gatherings. It was moved from its longstanding home in Independence Hall to a nearby glass pavilion on Independence Mall in 1976, and then to the larger Liberty Bell Center adjacent to the pavilion in 2003.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Bell

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

622:

Muhammad and his followers completed their Hijra from Mecca to Medina to escape religious persecution. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijra_%28Islam%29

1180:

The Byzantine Empire was weakened by the death of Emperor Manuel I Komnenos. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_I_Komnenos

1789:

The First United States Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1789, establishing the U.S. federal judiciary and setting the number of Supreme Court Justices. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judiciary_Act_of_1789

1841:

The Sultan of Brunei granted Sarawak to British adventurer James Brooke. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Sarawak

1877:

The Imperial Japanese Army commanded by Kawamura Sumiyoshi defeated Saigō Takamori and the Satsuma clan samurai at the Battle of Shiroyama in Kagoshima, the decisive engagement of the Satsuma Rebellion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Shiroyama

1903:

Alfred Deakin became the second Prime Minister of Australia, succeeding Edmund Barton who left office to become a founding justice of the High Court of Australia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Deakin

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

cartographic (adj): Of or pertaining to the making of maps http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cartographic

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Extremism. It is an almost infallible sign — a kind of death-rattle — when a human institution is forced by its members into stressing those and only those factors which are identificatory, at the expense of others which it necessarily shares with competing institutions because human beings belong to all of them. --John Brunner http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Brunner