 Nixon's reading of the Declaration of Independence was met with the ringing of church bells throughout the city. The bell in the State House, later known as the Liberty Bell, had not yet received its famous crack, which is believed to have happened in the early 1800s. A copy of the Declaration had also been sent by John Hancock to General George Washington and the Continental Army in New York. Washington instructed the Declaration be read to the soldiers on July 9th.