Celebrating America's 235th Birthday by Welcoming More Than 24,000 New Citizens

This week, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) celebrated America’s 235th birthday by welcoming more than 24,000 new citizens  in nearly 350 naturalization ceremonies around the globe.

Watch a special video from USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas commemorating this important week for America and its newest citizens:

At a ceremony in Cincinnati last week, Director Mayorkas spoke about the spirit of independence: “This spirit, along with our founding ideals of freedom and democracy, has allowed us to achieve great success as a nation of immigrants. Immigrants come to America in search of opportunity, and by taking the Oath of Allegiance, they embrace the rights and responsibilities of U.S. citizenship.”

Aboard the USS Midway in San Diego, 200 members of the U.S. armed forces took the Oath of Allegiance in front of a crowd of 2,000 people in a ceremony honoring Gulf War veterans.

Keeping with USCIS’s commitment to bring immigration services to the troops wherever they serve, members of the U.S. armed forces took the Oath of Allegiance to become citizens at military-only ceremonies in Baghdad, Kabul, and Camp Arifjan, Kuwait.

USCIS also held special ceremonies at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where both the Declaration of Independence and Constitution of the United States were debated and adopted; the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum in Atlanta; the National World War II Museum in New Orleans; the USS Constitution in Charlestown, Mass.; George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens in Mount Vernon, Va.; and SeaWorld in Orlando, Fla.

Our newest Americans hail from all corners of the globe; some came to the United States to join family members, others sought professional or educational opportunities, and some in search of refuge from conflicts or hardships in their homelands. Each chose to make the United States their adopted home, and together, this week they all took the meaningful step of becoming U.S. citizens.

Is the Liberty Bell rung on the Fourth of July?

The Liberty Bell rang when the Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence, and has become a symbol of freedom in the United States. Cast in London, England, in 1752, for the Pennsylvania State House, the Bell cracked soon after it arrived in Philadelphia. Local craftsmen John Pass and John Stow cast a new bell in 1753, using metal from the English bell. Their names appear on the front of the bell, along with the city, date, and an inscription.

By 1846, a thin crack began to affect the sound of the bell. In order to repair the bell, craftsmen carved a slot along the length of the crack that prevented the two sides of the bell from vibrating against each other, and inserted two rivets in the slot to control the vibration of the two sides and restore the bell's tonal quality. After the repair, the bell rang for a George Washington birthday celebration, but it cracked again and has not rung since.

Today, the Liberty Bell hangs in Philadelphia at the Liberty Bell Center on Market Street, and someone symbolically taps it each July 4.

For information on planning a visit to the Liberty Bell Center, please visit the National Park Service's (NPS) website.

Please note: Tickets are required for tours of Independence Hall from March 1 to December 31 (except for July 4 and Thanksgiving). Walk-up tickets are available for free on the morning of your visit at the Independence Visitor Center. One person may request up to 10 tickets for a family or small group. Up to 80 tickets may be given to one teacher or guide for organized tours or school groups. Everyone in the group needs a ticket, even infants.