The centennial liberty bell

Front matter

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THE

Preface

ADVERTISEMENT.

American Independence constitutes the central idea presented in the following pages ; commencing with a concise history of Independence Hall, where Independence was declared and promulgated. An account of the Bell that proclaimed it. A reference to some of the acts of vandalism and outrages in 1776, that drove the colonists to seek Independence as their only refuge against a further continuance, and more aggravated acts, of oppression and injustice. Also a series of transactions of the Continental Congress, in relation to Independence, immediately preceding its final action on the subject. The adoption of the Declaration ; the signing ; and brief biographical sketches of the signers thereof. Letters of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, in relation to the Declaration, its authenticity, &c. The Appendix, detailing the opening ceremonies of the great International Exhibition, commemorative of our National Independence ; and finally, the celebration of

iii iV PREFACE.

the Fourth of July, 1876, the centennial anniversary of our National birth-day.

The extracts from the proceedings of Congress are exact copies taken from the secret Journal of the Hpuse, in which the orthography, punctuation and style of the times are preserved, affording an opportunity for instituting comparisions between the written expressions of that time, and those of the present, and for noting the difference. It will be observed that the improvements in the republic of letters, within the last hundred years, are as obvious as those seen in other departments of art, such as are now being demonstrated in the great International Exhibition in this city. L.

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