THOMAS E. HASTINGS

I have lived and worked in the Philadelphia area, which includes South Jersey, for most of my life. But I had not been to the Liberty Bell or Independence Hall until I started working as a park guide at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia.

When visitors first come to the park, typically they want to know:

"Where's the bell?"

"How do we get to the Rocky statue?"

"Where can we get a Philly cheesesteak?"

While traveling daily on the PATCO Hi-Speedline to Philadelphia and back to Jersey, I oftentimes pondered, "Did the birthplace of America have many New Jersey participants?" I discovered some surprising facts that many may not know.

The Liberty Bell is a well-known iconic symbol but few know that it first started out as an ordinary statehouse bell. In 1751, the Pennsylvania Assembly ordered the bell from the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London. Yes, Whitechapel — the neighborhood that is best known for the location of the infamous Jack the Ripper murders in the late 1880s, but that's another story.

The Old Testament inscription on the bell is presumed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of William Penn's 1701 Charter of Privileges. The charter details the "rights and freedoms" valued by people the world over. Penn had his own ideas on religious freedom, which included Native American rights and the inclusion of citizens enacting their own laws.

The bell arrived in Philadelphia on Sept. 1, 1752, and may have cracked when first tried out. The Colonials must have had a severe case of buyer's remorse so they decided to go for a local remedy. Two foundry workers, John Pass and John Stow, were hired to recast the bell. Although both were inexperienced in bell casting, the Philadelphia folks must have been impressed with Pass since he headed up the Mount Holly Iron Foundry in New Jersey. Subsequently, the bell was broken down into small pieces, melted down, and cast into a new bell at Stow's foundry on 2nd and Market streets.

Although it took them two tries to get it right, the Jersey guy and his partner came through in the long run. This new and improved bell was finally raised in the statehouse steeple on June 11, 1753. On the back of the bell, check out the spelling of Pennsylvania with only one "n."

Twenty-three years later many of the Colonials had finally had it with the British and their unfair taxes. They were tired of being pushed around by a foppish king in a faraway land. An exception was the royal governor of New Jersey, William Franklin. The governor was the acknowledged son of the esteemed patriot Benjamin Franklin. He was quite content with the status quo. In other words, Ben's Jersey son was a Tory.

Thomas Paine's 1776 best-seller, "Common Sense," could not even persuade the governor that America would be better off on their own. Paine, a British subject himself, was a failed corset-maker turned activist-writer. He unabashedly challenged the authority of the British government and the royal monarchy. The plain language that he used in his pamphlet spoke to the common people and helped to influence the American colonists that independence was a "just and glorious cause."

In the summer of 1776, William Franklin, the steadfast loyalist, was formally taken into custody by order of the Provincial Congress of New Jersey, an entity he refused to recognize. He was incarcerated in Connecticut for two years, thus having the distinction of becoming the last appointed royal governor of New Jersey.

When you visit Independence National Historical Park, take a tour of Independence Hall led by knowledgeable park rangers. You will see where the delegates debated and eventually adopted the Declaration of Independence and later on the U.S. Constitution. Where what had been colonies were now independent sovereign states on the path to becoming a unified nascent nation.

If you stop in the West Wing of Independence Hall, you will see an original printed edition of the Declaration of Independence. This surviving document is known as a "Dunlap broadside." There were 100 to 200 copies printed by John Dunlap on the night of July 4, 1776. Only 26 are known to exist today. In 2001, Norman Lear — the TV writer and producer — purchased an authenticated broadside, reportedly for $8.1 million.

Many visitors ask, "Where is the original that was written by Thomas Jefferson?" They are referring to the "engrossed," formally signed document that is displayed in the National Archives in Washington. It surprises many, but this version was penned a few weeks later on parchment by a clerk to the secretary of the Second Continental Congress. His name was Timothy Matlack. Born in Haddonfield, he was a Quaker merchant and brewer. Evidently, he had impeccable handwriting, especially with the quill pen. His portrait, painted by Charles Willson Peale, can be seen at the Portrait Gallery in the Second Bank of the U.S., located in the park on Chestnut Street.

While at the gallery take a look at Daniel Morgan's portrait, another Jersey guy, believed to have been born in Hunterdon County. He was a rough-hewn soldier who began his career in the French and Indian War and had the scars to prove it.

Morgan was involved in a lot of battles. He became a prisoner of war during the Battle of Quebec. Morgan along with 400 men was taken prisoner on Dec. 31, 1775. He remained imprisoned until formally exchanged in January 1777. What a mistake that was for the British. Morgan went onto defeat the British at the Cowpens in South Carolina on Jan. 17, 1781, by instructing the militia to fire two volleys and then run away, thus inviting a premature charge by the British.

Pass, Franklin, Matlack and Morgan are not the only cast of characters who had a Jersey connection to our nation's early history. There were many more events, battles and patriots, such as Jonas Cattell, who ran 10 miles on Oct. 22, 1777, from Haddonfield to Fort Mercer in Gloucester County, to warn the Continental Army that the Hessians were coming.

Most know of George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River on the frigid night of Dec. 25, 1776. It was his first surprise assault, organized against the Hessian forces stationed in Trenton. Prior to this successful attack, Washington ordered Paine's essay, "The American Crisis," be read to his dispirited and suffering soldiers. These truly were "the times that try men's souls."

If it wasn't for the heroics of these courageous soldiers, as Paine so aptly summed up in his essay, "our homes would be turned into barracks and bawdy-houses for the Hessians." Bawdy-houses! Thank God this never happened!

Now if we the people could only do something about our high taxes in New Jersey, I believe that would rate a collective and sonorous "huzzah."

See you on the PATCO Hi-Speedline, on the way back to Jersey.

Thomas E. Hastings is a freelance writer and works as a park guide in Philadelphia. He lives in Gloucester Township.