POSTCARDS

Greeting From Philadelphia.

Philadelphia’s most enduring icon, the Liberty Bell, was so named by a group of abolitionists who adopted it in the 1830s as a symbol of their anti-slavery cause. The bell had been hanging in the Pennsylvania State House, now called Independence Hall, since the 1850s. The bell’s name was inspired by a biblical verse that had been inscribed on the bell: “Proclaim Liberty throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants Thereof.” The bell weighs about 2,000 pounds and cracked the first time it was rung. When struck, it sounds an E-flat.