THE LIBERTY BELL.

By Bob Alotta

REMEMBER THE STORIES you read when you were a child? The ones about George Washington and “I can’t tell a lie,” or how he threw a silver dollar across the Potomac? Well, as we’ve learned they were fabrications of one Parson Weems. Neither of those tales was true.

I’m sorry to say that another icon of our nation — the Liberty Bell — is not what it’s cracked up to be. We all know the first bell was made by Whitechapel of London, that it cracked when first struck and how two “ingenious” fellows, Pass and Stowe, reduced that bell to metal fragments and recast it. We are also aware that the replacement wasn’t much better. As one contemporary recalled, the Pass and Stowe bell had the sound of two coal scuttles banging together. It too cracked.  They  kept it for “such purposes as the provincial government decides.”

A second bell was ordered from England. This one  was attached to the clock at the State House [now known as Independence Hall]. Most likely, that was the bell that “proclaimed liberty” when Col. John Nixon gave the first reading of the Declaration of Independence at noon on July 8. It was also a signal for all the church bells in Philadelphia to peal. 

The clock and bell were later donated to St. Augustine’s Roman Catholic Church. On May 8, 1844, during the anti-Catholic riots in Philadelphia, St. Augustine’s was set on fire and the bell fell from the belfry and smashed into small fragments. One eyewitness wrote: “that ancient bell whose tones first proclaimed the tidings of American independence” died in the inferno.

The Augustinian fathers salvaged the remnants and recast them into a new bell. Though much smaller than the original, this true Liberty Bell resides at Villanova University. The Liberty Bell — as an American icon  — did not become a popular symbol until 1839, when the Friends of Freedom, a Boston-based abolitionist society used it in their publications to promote the end of slavery.

The myths about the Liberty Bell and the Fourth of July do not end there.

“The 2d of July, 1776,” John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail, “will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America.” Oops!

That was the day when members of Congress adopted Richard Henry Lee’s resolution known today as the “Declaration of Independence.” In reality we should be celebrating Independence Day on July 2. Or should we?

At noon on July 8, Col. John Nixon, High Sheriff of Philadelphia County, stood on the State House steps and first “proclaimed” the document.

Congress, on the other hand, resolved on July 19 to celebrate July 4 as the date of the formal adoption of the formal public declaration of the reasons for the act, which really doesn’t make much sense. Thomas Jefferson recalled the document was signed “generally” on the 4th. Thomas McKean disagreed with Jefferson and vowed that no one signed it on that day. He knew because his name was accidentally omitted from public journals. It was decided on July 18 to engross the document on parchment and then have each member sign.

Adams wrote to his wife on July 9 that “as soon as an American seal is prepared, I conjecture the Declaration will be subscribed to by all members.” McKean added, “Probably copies with the names men signed to it were printed in August, 1776.” According to secret journals of Congress, that was accomplished on Aug. 2. Or was it?

Of the 70 men certified by the individual colonies to vote on the issue of independence, 22 did not sign it for one reason or another. Some were not in Philadelphia on Aug. 2. several opposed it and one died during the session. A quick calculation indicates only 48 men were authorized to sign the declaration. An examination of the document, however, reveals the signatures of 56. From whence did the additional names come? 

The additional signers were not members of Congress when the issue was argued. Charles Carroll and Samuel Chase were admitted to Congress on July 18; Dr. Benjamin Rush, Col. George Ross, George Clymer, Col. James Smith and George Taylor on July 10; and Matthew Thornton on Nov. 4.

Though they opposed the resolution, the signatures of Robert Morris, who went bankrupt helping to finance the Revolution, and George Read, also appear. William Williams of Connecticut, an alternate, also signed. His state was only permitted three delegates; Williams made four.

Both the Liberty Bell and the signers are sacred cows in American history. Unfortunately, they didn’t tell it like it was. Is anything else new?

Alotta, a history professor at Blue Ridge Community College, lives in Harrisonburg.