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U.S. Independence Day
 The Liberty Bell

The Liberty Bell
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 5 to 6
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   5.13

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    society, musical, dates, slavery, especially, traveled, city, anti-slavery, proclaim, history, rung, longer, repair, country, independent, against
     content words:    Pennsylvania State House, United States, John Pass, John Stow, Philadelphia State House, Independence Hall, Proclaim LIBERTY, Independence Day, In Philadelphia, New York

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The Liberty Bell
By Cindy Grigg 		  
1     In 1753, the city of Philadelphia got a new bell. The bell was made in England. It was brought to the colonies on a ship. It was going to hang in the Pennsylvania State House. At that time, the United States of America did not even exist! There were thirteen colonies in the "New World" that belonged to England. Pennsylvania was one of those colonies.
 
2     Two years before, leaders of Philadelphia wrote a letter. They wrote to a bell maker in England. They wanted him to make them a bell. They described the bell they wanted. They wanted some words from the Bible inscribed on the bell.
 
3     A crowd gathered at the state house in Philadelphia to hear the new bell ring for the very first time. The rope was pulled. But instead of a nice musical tone, the bell went "Clank!" The bell cracked right down the middle!
 
4     Two blacksmiths melted down the bell. It was a big job because the bell weighed 2,000 pounds. The men's names were John Pass and John Stow. They recast the bell and added more copper. Adding copper to the metal was supposed to make it stronger. They also put their names on the outside of the bell. A few weeks later, the bell was re-hung. Again, the bell rang. No one liked the sound of it. It was decided to melt the metal down again and recast it. This time, the blacksmiths added tin instead of copper. The tone was still poor.
 
5     Time passed. The colonists became unhappy with the way England was treating them. It didn't seem fair to people in America to have to obey a king, especially a king who ruled from so far away. They wanted to start their own country. They wanted to be independent from England. They wanted to choose their own leaders.

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