Liberty Bell Visit by Fidel Castro’s Niece Angers Cuban-Americans

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24. "Liberty Bell" only called so in 1830s

This bell broke and was recast 2-3 times. That is, was melted down, re-using the bronze metal, and repoured to a bell shape. Done by Philadelphia founders--i.e., workers who melt and pour metal, who never cast a bell before--they got it wrong twice.

[Bronze is a difficult alloy--nominally a mixture of copper and tin, but usually some zinc, lead, antimony, arsenic, silver enters from impure materials. These change the melt and can change the timbre of the bell---as well as lead to cracking.] The "bronze age" did not last, but all modern bells are made of some alloy of bronze.

In the 1770s to early 1800s it was known merely as the town bell of Philadelphia.

Nobody in 1776 called this the "Liberty Bell".

It got this name from abolitionists in the 1830s who called attention to Africans in slavery as a way to promote anti-slavery.

Source: the National Park Service, on a recent visit and some knowledge.