The Liberty Bell and the Sound of Uncertainty
A Solemn Procession Through Philadelphia
On July 8, 1835, a funeral procession for John Marshall passed through the city of Philadelphia. Marshall—the longest-serving chief justice in American history, holding office for thirty-four years—had died two days earlier at Mrs. Crim’s boardinghouse on Walnut Street. His horse-drawn casket made its way toward the city docks, where it would be placed aboard a steamboat bound for his home state of Virginia.
The Tolling of the Old Bell
As the procession moved through the city, onlookers heard peals ringing from what Philadelphians called the Old Bell, housed in the recently refurbished Independence Hall. Typically, the bell rang to alert residents that a fire had broken out. On this day, however, it tolled in honor of the great chief justice.
At some point during the ringing, witnesses later claimed the sound changed—flatter, hollower.
The Old Bell had cracked.
Or had it?
When Did the Bell Crack?
Despite the enduring story, no Philadelphia newspapers reported that the bell cracked while tolling for John Marshall’s funeral. Other accounts suggest the damage occurred earlier—on February 22, 1832, during the centennial celebration of George Washington’s birth. Still others place the crack on Washington’s birthday in 1835, five months before Marshall’s death. Another version claims the bell did not crack until 1843.
The truth is, we do not know for certain when the crack occurred. The most credible claim places it on Washington’s birthday in 1843. Historian Willis P. Hazard provided this date in his 1889 revision of John Fanning Watson’s Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania in the Olden Time. Supporting this timeline, The Philadelphia Public Ledger reported that when civic leaders prepared for Washington’s birthday commemoration in 1846, they attempted to smooth the jagged edges of the crack to prevent further vibration and damage.
Their efforts failed. That year, the bell cracked again—this time permanently—suffering what the Public Ledger described as a “compound fracture in a zig-zag direction through one of its sides.”
From Old Bell to Liberty Bell
By the mid-nineteenth century, the Old Bell had become something more. Its inscription—“Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants thereof”—transformed it into a powerful symbol. Abolitionists embraced the bell in their fight to end slavery. Suffragists in the early twentieth century invoked its promise. Civil rights demonstrators in the 1950s and 1960s claimed it as a symbol of their own struggle for equality.
The Liberty Bell ultimately became an international emblem of the highest ideals of the United States.
Why It Matters
The precise moment when the Liberty Bell cracked remains uncertain—and perhaps that uncertainty is fitting. What matters far more than the timing of the fracture is what the bell has come to represent. Its imperfections mirror the unfinished work of liberty itself. Though silent, the Liberty Bell continues to speak—reminding generations that freedom is proclaimed not once, but continually, by those willing to claim and defend it.
Source:
Gary B. Nash, The Liberty Bell (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010)