“The Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World,” a gift from France, was dedicated on October 28, 1886, and was designated as a National Monument 100 years ago on October 15, 1924.
Since 1886 the Statue of Liberty has stood in New York Harbor. It was a collaboration between sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and French historian and abolitionist Édouard de Laboulaye. They wanted to create a statue as a symbol of France’s friendship with the United States and to commemorate the centennial of American Independence.
The Franco-Prussian War delayed the project for a number of years, but by 1875 Bartholdi started work on the statue’s design while Laboulaye worked on fundraising. France was to pay for the statue itself; the U.S. was to foot the bill for the pedestal on which the statue would stand.
After a national fundraising effort, France has raised enough money for work to begin. When the statue’s initial internal designer, Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, unexpectedly died in 1879, Gustave Eiffel was brought in to finish the massive statue’s frame. After a party held in one of the statue’s knees, the remainder of the funds were secured and the statue was completed.
On July 4, 1884, France presented the Statue of Liberty to the U.S. in Paris, and U.S. Minister to France Levi P. Morton accepted it on behalf of the American people.
The pedestal, which the U.S. agreed to build, wasn’t ready nor were funds secured. To raise funds, the hand with the torch was on display at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, and then it was exhibited in Madison Square Park in New York City from 1877 to 1882.
As part of the fundraising effort, in 1883 American poet Emma Lazarus, wrote “The New Colossus.” In it are the words, “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.…” The poem was later cast onto a bronze plaque and mounted inside the pedestal’s lower level.
When money for the pedestal ran out in 1884, Joseph Pulitzer was able to raise the rest of the funds by promising to publish the name of every donor in his newspaper, no matter how small the amount given.
The statue arrived in New York on June 17, 1885, in 214 specially constructed wooden cases and was reconstructed. On October 28, 1886, the it was dedicated. At the ceremony, President Grover Cleveland, who as Governor of New York had previously vetoed a bill providing funding for the pedestal, accepted the monument on behalf of the American people and promised, “We will not forget that Liberty has here made her home; nor shall her chosen altar be neglected.”
Lady Liberty is inspired by the Roman goddess of liberty. In her right hand, she holds a torch above her head, and in her left hand she carries a tablet inscribed JULY IV MDCCLXXVI (July 4, 1776, in Roman numerals), the date of the Declaration of Independence. The statue is made from 3/32 inch-thick copper and an inner structure of wrought iron and stainless steel. It measures 151 feet high, and if you include the granite pedestal, the total height is around 305 feet.
One hundred years ago, on October 15, 1924, President Calvin Coolidge used his authority under the Antiquities Act to declare the statue a national monument. Since 1933, the National Park Service has maintained the statue, which has become a major tourist attraction for anyone visiting New York City.
Due its close proximity to the Ellis Island Immigration Station, the statue became a symbol of liberty and freedom for immigrants arriving in the United States. As a recognition of this symbolic aspect of the statue, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the 1965 Immigration Act at its base.
For its 100th anniversary in 1986 the statue was restored, and there was a major celebration over the July 4th weekend. To commenorate the anniversary, the U.S. Information Agency created the film Body of Iron, Soul of Fire, which traces the symbolic nature of the statue and looks at the life and inspirations of Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi.
Today, a facsimile of the Statue of Liberty’s deed of gift is on display at the National Archives in Washington, DC. It’s available for viewing in the Records of Rights exhibit in the “Yearning to Breathe Free,” gallery, a title inspired by Lazarus’s poem.
