"...With that brave and profound decision, the Founders demonstrated their love for liberty and proved that they were willing to fight and die for freedom."
—George W. Bush

Today is America's independence day. But in the City of Philadelphia, the festivities last all week. That's because the 4th of July wasn't the only important date in our nation's birth. Take July 8th for example: just four days after the Declaration of Independence was signed, the great bell in the Pennsylvania State House rang out to announce a public meeting. This wasn't just any meeting agenda. This was the first public reading of the Declaration, a message that would then went out in all shapes and forms to touch lives even two hundred and twenty-six years later.

The Liberty Bell is one symbol of that living document. Cast in England, the bell cracked upon arrival in Philly (by natural adjustment to moving and weather conditions in the colonies). A new cast was constructed. Almost a century later, it also cracked. Repairs were futile and after the 1846 ringing to recognize George Washington's birthday, the bell has not been fully rung (except to celebrate the bicentennial with a quiet ringing with a small hammer). The bell's inscription reads: "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof - Lev. XXV, v. x. By order of the Assembly of the Province of Pensylvania [sic] for the State House in Philada." That abbreviation is for Leviticus 25:10, by the way.

The bell is about to take its place in a new exhibit hall with a grand view of the State House (known by current standards as the famous "Independence Hall") in time for next year's extended July festivities (designed in part by the Philadelphia-based architecture firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson). Again the skies will light up, the songs will rise from the masses, and the dream will reign in all our hearts to live free.

Experience the Independence National Historical Park.

Celebrate the longest and largest birthday party at the birthplace of our nation.