 Well, Colonel, on 8 July 1776, a 2,000-pound copper and tin bell, now known as the Liberty Bell, rang out from the tower of the Pennsylvania Statehouse, now Independence Hall, in Philadelphia, summoning citizens to the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence. Four days earlier, the historic document had been adopted by the Continental Congress, but the bell didn't ring to announce the issuing of the document until it returned from the printer on July 8th.