what is a statue of liberty essay

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What is the Statue of Liberty?

Who sculpted the statue of liberty, why is the statue of liberty important.

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Statue of Liberty

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The Statue of Liberty is a 305-foot (93-metre) statue located on Liberty Island in Upper New York Bay, off the coast of New York City . The statue is a personification of liberty in the form of a woman. She holds a torch in her raised right hand and clutches a tablet in her left.

When was the Statue of Liberty built?

The Statue of Liberty was built in France between 1875 and 1884. It was disassembled and shipped to New York City in 1885. The statue was reassembled on Liberty Island in 1886, although the torch has been redesigned or restored several times since its installation.

The Statue of Liberty was sculpted between 1875 and 1884 under the direction of French sculptor  Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi , who began drafting designs in 1870. Bartholdi and his team hammered roughly 31 tons of copper sheets onto a steel frame. Before being mounted on its current pedestal, the statue stood over 151 feet (46 metres) tall and weighed 225 tons.

What is the Statue of Liberty holding?

In her raised right hand, the Statue of Liberty holds a torch. This represents the light that shows observers the path to freedom. In her left hand, she clutches a tablet bearing “JULY IV MDCCLXXVI,” the Declaration of Independence ’s adoption date in Roman numerals.

The Statue of Liberty is one of the most instantly recognizable statues in the world, often viewed as a symbol of both New York City and the United States . Additionally, the statue is situated near Ellis Island , where millions of immigrants were received until 1943. Because of this, the Statue of Liberty is also understood to represent hope, freedom, and justice.

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Statue of Liberty , colossal statue on Liberty Island in the Upper New York Bay, U.S., commemorating the friendship of the peoples of the United States and France . Standing 305 feet (93 metres) high including its pedestal , it represents a woman holding a torch in her raised right hand and a tablet bearing the adoption date of the Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776) in her left. The torch, which measures 29 feet (8.8 metres) from the flame tip to the bottom of the handle, is accessible via a 42-foot (12.8-metre) service ladder inside the arm (this ascent was open to the public from 1886 to 1916). An elevator carries visitors to the observation deck in the pedestal, which may also be reached by stairway, and a spiral staircase leads to an observation platform in the figure’s crown. A plaque at the pedestal’s entrance is inscribed with a sonnet , “ The New Colossus ” (1883) by Emma Lazarus . It was written to help raise money for the pedestal, and it reads:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. “Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

A French historian, Édouard de Laboulaye, made the proposal for the statue in 1865. Funds were contributed by the French people, and work began in France in 1875 under sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi . The statue was constructed of copper sheets, hammered into shape by hand and assembled over a framework of four gigantic steel supports, designed by Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc and Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel . The colossus was presented to the American minister to France Levi Morton (later vice president) in a ceremony in Paris on July 4, 1884. In 1885 the completed statue, 151 feet 1 inch (46 metres) high and weighing 225 tons, was disassembled and shipped to New York City . The pedestal, designed by American architect Richard Morris Hunt and built within the walls of Fort Wood on Bedloe’s Island, was completed later. The statue, mounted on its pedestal, was dedicated by President Grover Cleveland on October 28, 1886. Over the years the torch underwent several modifications, including its conversion to electric power in 1916 and its redesign (with repoussé copper sheathed in gold leaf) in the mid-1980s, when the statue was repaired and restored by both American and French workers for a centennial celebration held in July 1986. The site was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1984.

The statue was at first administered by the U.S. Lighthouse Board, as the illuminated torch was considered a navigational aid. Because Fort Wood was still an operational Army post, responsibility for the maintenance and operation of the statue was transferred in 1901 to the War Department. It was declared a national monument in 1924, and in 1933 the administration of the statue was placed under the National Park Service . Fort Wood was deactivated in 1937, and the rest of the island was incorporated into the monument. In 1956 Bedloe’s Island was renamed Liberty Island , and in 1965 nearby Ellis Island , once the country’s major immigration station, was added to the monument’s jurisdiction, bringing its total area to about 58 acres (about 24 hectares). Exhibits on the history of the Statue of Liberty, including the statue’s original 1886 torch, were contained in the statue’s base until 2018, when they were moved to the adjacent Statue of Liberty Museum.

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Overview + History

The statue of liberty.

She is an icon, a national treasure, and one of the most recognizable figures in the world. Each year millions who cherish her ideals make the journey to experience her history and grandeur in person. She is the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of freedom, inspiration, and hope.

Conceptualizing Liberty

It was 1865 when Frenchman Édouard de Laboulaye proposed the idea of presenting a monumental gift from the people of France to the people of the United States. A n arden t   s uppor t er of America , Laboulaye wished to commemorate the centennial of the Declaration of Independence as well as celebrate the close relationship between France and America. He was equally moved by the recent abolition of slavery in the U.S., which furthered America’s ideals of liberty and freedom.

Sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi was in attendance for Laboulaye’s proclamation. Of like mind with Laboulaye’s cause, Bartholdi began conceptualizing the colossal structure that would soon be known as Liberty Enlightening the World .

Bartholdi’s design encompassed much symbolism: her crown representing light with its spikes evoking sun rays extending out to the world; the tablet, inscribed with July 4, 1776 in Roman numerals, noting American independence; to symbolize the end of slavery, Bartholdi placed a broken shackle and chains at the Statue’s foot.

Funding the Dream

Fundraising and bringing people together have always been integral to Lady Liberty’s history. It began with efforts to finance this unprecedented undertaking. France would be responsible for creating the Statue and assembling it in the United States while the American people would fund and build the pedestal.

To raise funds in France, public fees, various forms of entertainment, and a lottery were used. In the U.S., to finance the pedestal, benefit theatrical events, art exhibitions, auctions, and prizefights were held. Poet Emma Lazarus wrote her famous sonnet The New Colossus  in 1883 for an art and literary auction.

Despite these efforts, fundraising for the pedestal went slowly. To spark public action, in 1885, Joseph Pulitzer placed an ad in his paper the New York World inviting readers to donate to the cause. In exchange, Pulitzer printed each donor’s name in the newspaper. The public rose to the challenge with 120,000 people donating over $100,000 and securing the remaining funds needed for the Statue’s pedestal.

Meanwhile in France, Bartholdi required the assistance of an engineer to address structural issues associated with designing such a colossal copper sculpture. Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, just prior to creating his famed Tower, was engaged to design the massive iron pylon and secondary skeletal framework that allows the Statue’s copper skin to move independently yet stand upright.

Construction of the Statue was completed in France in July 1884. The massive sculpture stood tall above the rooftops of Paris awaiting her voyage across the sea.

Back in America that same year architect Richard Morris Hunt was selected to design the Statue’s granite pedestal, and construction got underway.

Crossing the Atlantic

For its trans-Atlantic voyage aboard the frigate Isère, the Statue was reduced to 350 individual pieces and packed in 214 crates. The ship arrived in New York Harbor on June 17, 1885. While awaiting construction of its pedestal, the Statue remained in pieces on what was then called Bedloe’s Island. The pedestal was completed in April 1886 and finally, on October 28, 1886, President Grover Cleveland oversaw the dedication of the Statue of Liberty in front of thousands of spectators.

The story of the Statue of Liberty and her island has been one of change. For centuries the island was a major source of food for the Lenape native people and later Dutch settlers. In 1807, the U.S. Army deemed the island a military post, constructing an 11-point fort to protect New York Harbor. Later renamed Fort Wood, the structure now serves as the base for the Statue’s pedestal. The Statue’s own meaning and relevance have evolved with time, as well. Perhaps most notable is the association with welcoming “huddled masses.” In 1903, a plaque baring “The New Colossus” was placed in the pedestal. With that Lady Liberty’s significance grew as an inspiration to immigrants who sailed passed her on their way to America.

The Statue of Liberty's Original Torch

As Bartholdi envisioned it in 1874, the flame of the Statue’s torch was not to be lighted but rather made of solid copper sheet and gilded to shine brightly in daylight. But during its first half-century, the torch underwent numerous modifications. When the Statue was dedicated in 1886, two rows of portholes had been cut from the copper at the bottom of the torch to illuminate it from inside. Six years later, an 18-inch belt of glass replaced the upper row of portholes and an octagonal pyramidal skylight with red, white and yellow glass was installed on top of the flame. Changes continued in 1916 when copper was removed in about 250 places and replaced with amber-colored cathedral glass. In 1931 a new lighting system was installed that called for two holes 16 inches in diameter to be cut into the floor of the balcony around the flame through which two projectors were installed. By this time, Bartholdi’s design was barely recognizable.

In the 1980s when the Foundation was restoring the Statue for its centennial celebration, a team of experts determined that the original torch could not be restored. A century of modifications had radically altered Bartholdi’s solid copper flame to one mainly of glass. Leaks from rain and corrosion from the elements had damaged the original torch above the handle beyond repair. It was removed on July 4, 1984 and replaced with a replica that followed Bartholdi’s design.

Today, the original torch is on display in the Inspiration Gallery of the Statue of Liberty Museum.

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Statue of Liberty: The Making of an Icon

By: Patrick J. Kiger

Updated: April 25, 2024 | Original: May 14, 2019

The Statue of Liberty , which towers 305 feet, six inches over New York Harbor, is one of the most instantly recognizable symbols of America. It has inspired countless souvenir replicas and been referenced in everything from posters for war bonds to the final scene of the 1968 movie “Planet of the Apes,” in which an astronaut who returns to Earth in the distant future discovers it partially buried in sand.

But the statue that’s known across the planet went through an odd, serendipitous journey to iconic status. It was conceived by a French sculptor, Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, who had never even been to the United States before arriving in 1871 in hopes of convincing Americans to support his dream of building a monumental statue.

His design for the Statue of Liberty borrowed from an earlier idea he’d had for a colossal woman bearing a lantern at the entrance of the Suez Canal . The proposed figure he called “Liberty Enlightening the World,” was a woman wearing a crown of rays and holding a torch aloft in one hand and a tablet in the other. He originally scouted Central Park as a possible location, before settling upon what was then Bedloe’s Island.

Bartholdi traveled across the United States from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles to promote his idea, but when he wasn’t able to secure government support, he went back to France and started working with his friend Edouard de Laboulaye , who for years had wanted to build a French-American monument.

“Laboulaye was a very great admirer of the United States,” American University historian Alan Kraut says in a podcast, “Raising the Torch,” created for the Statue of Liberty Museum. “He was particularly excited about the outcome of the America Civil War, the emancipation of 4 million slaves, and also the long relationship the United States had had with France.”

In 1875, Laboulaye formed the Franco-American Union to raise $250,000 to finance Bartholdi’s creation of the statue. The idea was that Americans, in turn, would raise money for the statue’s base.

But it wasn’t that easy to get people in the United States—particularly in New York City, where it was to be located—excited about putting up money for the project. In 1876, to drum up more enthusiasm, Bartholdi exhibited the statue’s hand and torch at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition. When skeptics in New York questioned why he wasn’t showing more of the body, Bartholdi dropped hints that he might just put the finished statue in Philadelphia instead. New Yorkers, not wanting to be shown up, quickly agreed to exhibit the hand and torch in Madison Square to advertise the project and stimulate more contributions, according to the New York Public Library .

In the 1880s, the American Committee for the Statue of Liberty raised money for the construction of the statue’s pedestal by selling small souvenir models of the planned statue, which ranged from $1 for a six-inch replica to $5 for a foot-high version, which were marketed through a nationwide campaign. The effort led to the spread of miniature Statues of Liberty throughout the United States and the world and helped establish the statue in the public imagination as a symbol of America.

A variety of other fundraising efforts were staged, ranging from theatrical galas to prizefights, according to Christine Garnaut’s and Donald Langmead’s Encyclopedia of Architectural and Engineering Feats. Emma Lazarus wrote a poem, “The New Colossus,” which was read at a fundraising art exhibition in 1883. (Two decades later, it was inscribed on a bronze plaque on the inner wall of the pedestal.) Lazarus’ stirring plea to "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” helped to make the statue more than just a celebration of American democracy, by linking it with the waves of immigrants arriving in America in the late 1800s, and their aspirations for a better life.

“Laboulaye uses America as a symbol of good things. He sees Bartholdi as the tool by which he can achieve his aim of giving a gift,” Barry Moreno, historian and curator for the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration, says in the “Raising the Torch” podcast.

When even those heroic fundraising efforts weren’t enough, Joseph Pulitzer , publisher of the tabloid New York World , came to the project’s rescue. Pulitzer ran a March 1885 article in his newspaper, which prodded readers into contributing more money for the base by pointing out that the statue itself had been paid for by “the masses of the French people—by the working men, the tradesmen, the shop girls, the artisans—by all, irrespective of class or condition.” Americans had to do their part as well, Pulitzer exhorted, and it worked. The newspaper was able to raise $100,000 to complete the project, most of it in donations of $1 or less.

But while the campaign to finish the pedestal—in some ways, an early version of today’s GoFundMe campaigns—required hustle, it ultimately helped Americans to feel a sense of ownership and connection to the statue, even though it had been created on the other side of the Atlantic.

As Magnuson-Cannady, supervising ranger for the National Park Service tells the “Raising the Torch” podcast, “The Statue of Liberty was really of the people in that the people of the United States and the people of France...not the super wealthy, not the super powerful—it was everyday folks contributing to the fundraising efforts and paying for the Statue of Liberty and the pedestal.”

In 1885, the statue arrived—in 350 pieces —in New York, where it took a year to be assembled because the pedestal hadn’t yet been completed. Finally, in October 1886, the Statue of Liberty was dedicated at a ceremony during which the crowd was interrupted by a full 15 minutes of applause before President Grover Cleveland could begin a brief speech in which he proclaimed that “she holds aloft the light which illumines the way to man’s enfranchisement.”

The massive statue’s magnificence instantly made it into a tourist magnet. As Barry Moreno explains in his 2017 pictorial history of the Statue of Liberty , Congress’s passage of the Private Card Mailing Act of 1898, which authorized private companies to produce postcards as long as they adhered to certain size and quality standards, also helped boost its profile, because people who visited bought inexpensive color postcards and sent them to friends and neighbors.

The market for Statue of Liberty postcards, in fact, became so lucrative that 11 years later, American printers convinced Congress to ban the importation of foreign-made postcards that depicted the statue and other quintessential “American scenes.”

The statue became an even more prominent American symbol during World War I , when it became one of the sights that U.S. soldiers gazed upon as they sailed off to fight in Europe, as well as one of the first things they glimpsed when they finally returned home.

The opening of a new $100 million museum on Liberty Island in 2019, paid for by private donations, further reinforces the Statue of Liberty as a monument cherished by people around the world. Timed to the May 2019 opening of the museum, the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation created an app featuring Apple’s augmented reality software, along with the “Raising the Torch” podcast to enhance the museum experience. Also featured in the new museum are a series of eight short films by HISTORY that outline fundraising and construction efforts behind the Statue of Liberty, how it became a symbol of home and democracy during wartime and its global significance as an icon representing equality and immigration.

“The statue is a kind of malleable or plastic figure,” Kraut says. “It can come to embody the kinds of definitions that one lends to the notion of freedom, itself.”

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Statue of Liberty

Introduction.

The Monument

The Statue of Liberty stands on Liberty Island, just off the southern tip of Manhattan Island, a part of New York City. The statue is about 151 feet (46 meters) tall. With its concrete base, it stands 305 feet (93 meters) high. The statue is made of thin sheets of pounded copper. An iron framework supports the copper.

The formal name of the statue is Liberty Enlightening the World . Liberty is shown in the form of a woman wearing a crown. The light comes from a torch she holds.

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

The statue became a national monument in 1924. In 1984 the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) added it to the list of World Heritage sites . Workers fixed it up for its 100th birthday in 1986. They repaired the metal and applied new gold to the flame of the torch. A museum in the base of the statue is open to visitors.

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Statue of Liberty

On July 4, 1884 France presented the United States with an incredible birthday gift: the Statue of Liberty! Without its pedestal it’s as tall as a 15-story building. She represents the United States. But the world-famous Statue of Liberty standing in New York Harbor was built in France. The statue was presented to the U.S., taken apart, shipped across the Atlantic Ocean in crates, and rebuilt in the U.S. It was France’s gift to the American people.

It all started at dinner one night near Paris in 1865. A group of Frenchmen were discussing their dictator-like emperor and the democratic government of the U.S. They decided to build a monument to American freedom—and perhaps even strengthen French demands for democracy in their own country. At that dinner was the sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi (bar-TOLE-dee). He imagined a statue of a woman holding a torch burning with the light of freedom.

Turning Bartholdi’s idea into reality took 21 years. French supporters raised money to build the statue, and Americans paid for the pedestal it would stand on. Finally, in 1886, the statue was dedicated.

• The statue sways 3 inches (7.62 centimeters) in the wind; the torch sways 5 inches (12.7 centimeters).

• Visitors climb 354 steps (22 stories) to look out from 25 windows in the crown.

• The statue—151 feet, 1 inch (46 meters, 2.5 centimeters) tall—was the tallest structure in the U.S. at that time.

• Engineer Gustave Eiffel, who would later design the Eiffel Tower in Paris, designed Liberty’s “spine.” Inside the statue four huge iron columns support a metal framework that holds the thin copper skin.

• Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi knew he wanted to build a giant copper goddess; he used his mother as the model.

• The statue is covered in 300 sheets of coin-thin copper. They were hammered into different shapes and riveted together.

• The arm with the torch measures 46 feet (14 meters); the finger, 8 feet (2.4 meters); the nose, nearly 5 feet (1.5 meters).

• Seven rays in the crown represent the Earth’s seven seas.

"The New Colossus", a poem written by Emma Lazarus in 1883, is on display on the Statue's pedestal.

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

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The light of democracy — examining the Statue of Liberty

Statue of Liberty, New York Harbor, installed 1886, conceived by Édouard Laboulaye, sculpture designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, engineered by Gustave Eiffel, pedestal designed by Richard Morris Hunt. Speakers: Dr. Elizabeth Macaulay and Dr. Steven Zucker

Video transcript

[0:00] [music]

Dr. Steven Zucker: [0:05] We’re on Liberty Island in the middle of New York Harbor, standing at the feet of the Statue of Liberty.

Dr. Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis: [0:12] Today, people think of Manhattan’s towering skyline, but in 1886, when she made her first appearance here, there was nothing as tall as Lady Liberty with her torch held high.

Dr. Zucker: [0:21] The statue was a gift from the Republic of France to the United States in honor of the friendship between the two countries, but also in recognition of both countries’ commitment to democracy.

[0:32] The idea of this gift, of this massive sculpture, had originated with a Frenchman who was a historian of American history. He was a republican even at the end of the reign of Napoleon III.

Dr. Macaulay-Lewis: [0:44] He was also the president of the French anti-slavery league, and so a symbol that represented a nation that valued liberty and freedom and had ended slavery was something that Laboulaye saw as a way forward for France. The United States was a model.

[0:58] This is the biggest statue the United States has, this structure, which probably most people would assume was financed by a state because it’s so big, but was not. The whole point was that this was financed by the people of France and then by the people of America.

[1:12] The French set out to raise 400,000 francs for the statue, while the United States citizens were meant to raise the money, about a quarter of a million dollars, to pay for the base.

Dr. Zucker: [1:22] Much of the base was supported by members of the Union League club, but they came up about $100,000 short. By this time, the sculpture had been completed and was laying in pieces in France waiting for the pedestal to be completed.

[1:35] At that point, Joseph Pulitzer, the owner of a newspaper called “The World” reached out to his readership and put forward this project as an expression not of New York’s elites but of the common man.

Dr. Macaulay-Lewis: [1:46] Pulitzer was the master of PR. He raised $100,000 in less than six months, and most of those donations were less than a dollar. That tells you a lot about how Americans, many of whom would have been immigrants, felt about their ideals and ideologies.

Dr. Zucker: [2:00] How does one take an abstract idea and represent it physically? Bartholdi was the sculptor and is responsible for not only selecting the site but also for the overall artistic vision. Richard Morris Hunt was hired to produce the pedestal, and he draws on ancient architectural vocabulary.

Dr. Macaulay-Lewis: [2:18] He references what was one of the most well-known monuments from antiquity, the Pharos or Lighthouse of Alexandria in Egypt, which was this Greek city, originally, but incorporated many aspects of both Greek and Egyptian architecture. We can really see that in this building.

Dr. Zucker: [2:35] The pedestal was praised in its own day for having a strong design in its own right but also not being so grand as to overshadow the sculpture above it.

Dr. Macaulay-Lewis: [2:44] They work very well together. This is a local Connecticut granite, it’s rusticated. There are galleries on each side that have a colonnade that you can go inside that have spectacular views of the harbor.

Dr. Zucker: [2:55] I love the gently domed roundels that surround the lower part of the pediment. There are 40 of them, and that was one for each state back in 1886.

Dr. Macaulay-Lewis: [3:04] It’s a reminder of the 100th-year anniversary of the United States, so it’s a symbolic building in that way as well.

Dr. Zucker: [3:10] Similarly, on the sculpture itself, the rays of the crown are seven. A reference to the seven seas and the seven continents, and the idea of liberty spreading across the world.

Dr. Macaulay-Lewis: [3:20] When this was dedicated, a million people reportedly came out to see it. What did that one million people, and the immigrants, when they sailed through the Narrows, what did they see?

Dr. Zucker: [3:29] They saw a personification of an idea. They saw a figure informed by the great tradition of ancient Greece, the inventors of the ideals of democracy. The figure is heavily draped so that her body is almost completely lost below it. We can see a finer undergarment and then big, broad fields of copper cladding.

Dr. Macaulay-Lewis: [3:48] Our eyes are drawn up to her face, to the torch. What is also remarkable is her tablet. It just says, very simply, “July 4th, 1776,” in Roman numerals.

Dr. Zucker: [3:58] Those symbols, the symbol of the draped woman holding a torch, this can be read in multiple ways. Bartholdi was at pains to express that this was not an incendiary torch, but rather, this was a torch of enlightenment. And what a face. Her look is so determined. It’s stoic, it is unwavering.

Dr. Macaulay-Lewis: [4:16] She looks like she has accepted that this is her duty. She needs to show the world what the ideals of liberty really mean.

Dr. Zucker: [4:23] She gently strides forward, matching the task at hand as if she’s going to bring liberty from the United States to the rest of the world. In fact, this was produced just as France was moving to the Third Republic.

[4:35] It’s windy out here as we stand at the foot of the statue, and it’s a reminder of the engineering brilliance that went into the design of this sculpture. This is made out of very thin sheets of copper that have to withstand enormous pressure from high winds, even hurricanes.

Dr. Macaulay-Lewis: [4:50] It is made of repoussé work.

Dr. Zucker: [4:52] That means that it was hammered from the back. In this case, in pieces against wooden molds.

Dr. Macaulay-Lewis: [4:57] But then you have another problem. If you figured out how to build it, how does it stay up?

Dr. Zucker: [5:02] The credit here really has to go to Gustave Eiffel, the designer and owner of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Dr. Macaulay-Lewis: [5:07] His other masterpiece is right here in Manhattan’s harbor.

Dr. Zucker: [5:11] But it’s hidden underneath Bartholdi’s beautiful copper skin. Within is a brilliant mechanism to hold every single sheet of copper independently.

Dr. Macaulay-Lewis: [5:21] There are four big, thick, steel pylons, and coming off of there is this spider web of steel connecting to every single piece. This intricate design that is incredibly light.

Dr. Zucker: [5:33] None of those steel posts can touch the copper, because if they did, it would set up a kind of galvanic electric current that would corrode the sculpture, so each post has to be insulated from the copper itself.

[5:44] The Statue of Liberty, which we credit to Bartholdi, is actually very much a communal work. It’s a work of two nations, but it’s also the work of the brilliant architect of the pedestal and an equally brilliant engineer.

Dr. Macaulay-Lewis: [5:55] Many different people working together to achieve a remarkable result.

[5:59] [music]

Bibliography

Official website from the National Parks Service

Rediscovering An Ornate Cast Of Cast-Iron Buildings (New York Times)

Biography of Bartholdi from the National Gallery of Art

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"The Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World" was a gift of friendship from the people of France to the United States and is recognized as a universal symbol of freedom and democracy. The Statue of Liberty was dedicated on October 28, 1886.  It was designated as a National Monument in 1924.  Employees of the National Park Service have been caring for the colossal copper statue since 1933.

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Emma Lazarus: “The New Colossus”

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Is any poem more of a public institution than “ The New Colossus ”? Since 1903, when it was first displayed on a plaque inside the base of the Statue of Liberty, Emma Lazarus ’s signature sonnet has become one of the most renowned and quoted poems on the planet. It has managed this feat despite its author’s low profile during her lifetime, and despite having nearly lapsed into oblivion before its enshrinement. By now the pairing of sonnet and monument seems inevitable; the one has redefined the other. Lacking the force of law, yet permanently fixed in American civic culture, “The New Colossus” has carved out a literary niche all its own: it is a credo, a gesture of “world-wide welcome,” and a magnet for controversy.

As many commentators have noted, the poem is pluralistic in its roots. It is an Italian sonnet composed by a Jewish-American woman, contrasting an ancient Greek statue with a statue built in modern France. At the time of its writing in 1883, European immigrants—including Italians, Greeks, and Russian-Jewish refugees—were arriving en masse in America, stirring fierce debate and frequent hostility among “natives” (as U.S.-born descendants of earlier European immigrants called themselves). Within this tense climate, Emma Lazarus, a writer and activist from an affluent New York family, had begun volunteering to assist struggling exiles from Czarist Russia. Around the same time, George Eliot ’s novel Daniel Deronda (1876), which explores proto-Zionist themes, had deepened her interest in her own Jewish heritage. When asked to contribute a poem to a fundraiser for a statue-in-progress, designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi for installation at New York Harbor, Lazarus took what proved to be a frutiful approach to public poetry: quietly investing her subject with her personal experience and concerns.

As first conceived by the artist, Lady Liberty represented, simply, liberty. The full title of Bartholdi’s statue is Liberty Enlightening the World . Its subject is the Roman goddess Libertas, familiar from the Eugène Delacroix painting Liberty Leading the People (1830), in which she carries a battle flag and gun. To honor Bartholdi’s more peaceful representation, Lazarus stressed a different aspect of freedom: not the courage to fight the enemy but the willingness to accept the stranger. The poem’s early audiences sensed the power of the reinterpretation. “The New Colossus” was, according to Lazarus biographer Bette Roth Young, “the only entry read at the gala opening” of the fundraising exhibition that had solicited art and literary works for auction. Later that year, poet James Russell Lowell wrote to Lazarus: “Your sonnet gives its subject a raison d’etre.”

It has also given its author lasting fame. Young notes that Lazarus placed it first in the manuscript she assembled prior to her death, as if knowing the sonnet could make her reputation. It did, but it may have pigeonholed her in the process. Biographer Esther Schor laments that “for more than a century, [fate] has been busy whittling down her legacy to a single sonnet.” Fitting or not, that legacy is one many poets would envy; few poems have ever leapt so dramatically beyond the anthology into the annals of history.

And yet, after its promising debut, the poem was almost forgotten. Lazarus died in 1887 with virtually no readership. According to the National Park Service:

It was not until 1901 … that Georgina Schuyler, a friend of hers, found a book containing the sonnet in a bookshop and organized a civic effort to resurrect the lost work. Her efforts paid off…

They paid off more than she could have known. The plaque she lobbied for went up two years later, embedding the poem in America’s conception of itself—and, to some degree, the world’s conception of America. Millions of T-shirts and trinkets attest to Liberty’s power as advertisement for the American Dream. Read cynically, “The New Colossus” is therefore a kind of glorified “pitch” (it grew out of a fundraiser, after all), and “Give me your tired, your poor” is a touching but deceptive slogan. Read generously, the poem was an audacious reimagining not only of the statue but of America’s role on the world stage. If it lacks the irony and internal conflict we now expect from modern literature, that’s because it was a conscious act of political mythmaking. Either way, its vision reaches well beyond its text. As an August 2017 New York Times piece observed, foreign visitors often associate the statue with welcome before they’ve encountered, or even heard of, the poem that forged the association.

Inclusive as that message of welcome aspires to be, there has always been a segment of the U.S. population that rejects it. Historian Paul A. Kramer, tracing the history of American xenophobia for Slate , notes that between the 1920s and 1960s, “[immigration] restrictionists refashioned the Statue of Liberty into a militant warrior-goddess guarding America’s beleaguered gates.” In 2017, presidential efforts to shut America’s door on Muslim refugees, undocumented Mexican immigrants, and other groups stirred fresh disputes over the Statue’s symbolism. When a reporter at a press briefing asked how the White House’s policies squared with Lazarus’s words, a senior advisor, echoing a popular nativist talking point, objected that the poem was “not actually part of the original” statue—and, by implication, isn’t really part of its meaning. News and literary outlets soon featured op-ed retorts, analyses, and “New Colossus” tribute poems skewering nativist bigotry. 130 years after her death, Emma Lazarus was the edgiest poet in America.

Hardcore nativists are not the only source of this conflict, however. It threads through all of American life and even, in some readings, “The New Colossus” itself. Lazarus’s description of immigrants as “wretched refuse” may not be intentionally condescending (“wretched” is supposed to connote pity rather than judgment; “refuse” ostensibly means “exiled people,” not “trash”), but it has raised many eyebrows over the years. Journalism professor Roberto Suro has written that it “applies to some refugees for sure, but not to most immigrants.” Jerry Seinfeld used to mock it in his stand-up routine: “I am for open immigration, but that sign we have in the front of the Statue of Liberty … Do we have to specify ‘the wretched refuse?’ … Why not just say, ‘Give us the unhappy, the sad, the slow, the ugly, the people that can’t drive…’”

Beneath the flip humor lie real tensions and questions. Does the poem’s humane plea contain a whiff of snobbery? Does it caricature the immigrant experience? Do most New Yorkers—and Americans in general—share Lazarus’s high ideals? Kramer judges that the poem “wore its ambivalence about immigrants on its sleeve … but it also expressed the idea of the United States as a haven for outcasts in bold new ways, ways that would face repeated onslaughts in the coming decades.” The onslaughts have never stopped coming, and the poem’s mix of boldness and ambivalence remains a challenge in every sense.

*          *          *

Millions of tourists glance at “The New Colossus” each year, but few critics give it a close reading. The commentator Max Cavitch laments that it’s “almost universally underread.” We know what it represents as a cultural touchstone, but what does it say as a poem?

Lazarus begins her sonnet with an unusual device that we might call an inverse simile . She tells us what her subject is “not like”: the imperious and male Greek Colossus, which stood at the harbor of the island of Rhodes in the 3rd century BCE (legend says it straddled the harbor, a technical impossibility). It is against this famous forerunner that the poet defines Lady Liberty:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles.

The word “brazen” here does double duty; it means both made of brass (the Colossus of Rhodes was bronze-plated) and brash or arrogant , as conquerors tend to be. Lady Liberty, though equally “mighty,” is welcoming and protective by contrast. Hers is a proud maternal strength, which nevertheless seems to harness the power of the patriarchs; “the imprisoned lightning” of her electric torch recalls Zeus’s thunderbolt. The subsequent lines underscore this duality:

From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

She is a “beacon” of hospitality; she turns a “mild” face to the world and its exiles; yet she also commands . (Notice how “command” gains force from its position at the end of the line.) The “twin cities” she presides over are New York and Brooklyn, which would not formally merge until 1898. Her domain is the entrance to what was already, by 1883, America’s largest metropolis, but her role is to greet, not guard.

As is conventional in the sonnet, the rhetoric takes a “turn” in line 9. The closing sestet announces Liberty’s message to the Old World:

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

This is the part that even schoolchildren and politicians know—more or less. We remember the outpouring of compassion but tend to forget that it’s prefaced by a note of New York defiance. Your refugees are welcome here , Liberty says in effect, but not your stuck-up elite.

The “ancient lands” line is a democratic laugh in the face of European monarchy. Unfortunately, its tinge of gloating American exceptionalism may be the poem’s most dated aspect. In our era of hyperpartisanship, severe inequality, and dismal congressional approval ratings, Americans increasingly resent the pomp of their own rulers; some look to Europe for models of functional democracy. Meanwhile, Liberty’s outreach to “the homeless” is an uncomfortable reminder of the many “tired” and “poor” the country fails to shelter, whether they are born here or elsewhere. Then, too, many Americans are descended from—or, in Lazarus’s time, had themselves been—captives shipped across the Atlantic into slavery, without regard for their “yearning to breathe free.” Liberty omits this part of the story.

Kramer’s Slate essay, after tracing various betrayals of the Statue’s ideals throughout American history, concludes that “Visions of a generous United States … have beaten back formidable exclusionary forces in the past, and may yet again.” Lazarus would presumably share that hope. Yet the “golden door” is still, as it was in her own Gilded Age, more aspiration than actuality.

We are used to discussing “The New Colossus” as social studies, not literature. But classic poetry never arises in a literary vacuum, or survives in one. Beyond the confines of its plaque, Lazarus’s poem participates in a rich dialogue with earlier and later texts.

Max Cavitch, for example, finds a model for Liberty’s “lamp” in Daniel Deronda , in which the proto-Zionist character Mordecai proclaims: “[W]hat is needed is the seed of fire. The heritage of Israel is beating in the pulses of millions …. Let the torch of visible community be lit!” There is good reason to believe this passage struck a chord with Lazarus, who had been profoundly moved by the novel and who was, as Schor notes, “the first well-known American publicly to make the case for a Jewish state.” Yet if Lazarus borrowed this symbol from Eliot, she also Americanized and extended it, recasting “the torch” as a beacon for all communities.

What about the influence of other poems? “The New Colossus” may owe a debt to the ecstatic pluralism of Walt Whitman ’s “ Crossing Brooklyn Ferry ,” also set in the waters around New York City. An even likelier reference point is that other famous 19th-century sonnet about a statue: Percy Bysshe Shelley ’s “ Ozymandias ” (1818). Shelley’s depiction of a shattered monument to a boastful tyrant (“Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”) mocks the hubris and transience of power. It is a cautionary tale about how glorious civilizations fall. Though the allusion is never explicit, it’s tempting to contrast Lady Liberty’s mild-eyed “command” with Ozymandias’s “sneer of cold command”; her democratic compassion with his autocratic cruelty; her message of hope with his call to “despair”; her triumphant wholeness with his brokenness.

“The New Colossus” echoes in modern poetry, too—and not only the political poetry for which it serves as explicit foundation. Sylvia Plath ’s “ The Colossus ,” for example, also weaves a modern myth that alludes to the Colossus of Rhodes. Its ruined patriarchal statue littering an unvisited shore contrasts sharply—perhaps deliberately—with the “Mother of Exiles” greeting ships. Hart Crane ’s The Bridge (1930), with its alternately ecstatic and despairing vision of America, at times seems visited by Lazarus’s ghost as well. In one section of Crane’s book, a drunken sailor lurches home “while the dawn / was putting the Statue of Liberty out”: a bleak moment whose irony depends for its effect on Lazarus’s optimism.

Without a doubt, however, “The New Colossus” has held its greatest sway beyond the page. In a way most poems do not, it exists near the border where the ungoverned waters of literature meet the strict land of law. Far out in those waters, language explores what is not literally the case; closer to land, it asserts what could or should be the case; crossing onto solid ground, it declares what shall be the case. “The New Colossus,” just shy of the shoreline, can never become law—can never actually require the U.S. to open its arms to strangers. It can only haunt us with the conviction that we should. Well into its second century, Lazarus’s masterpiece still commands the American imagination, offering a pledge that remains fulfillable but unfulfilled, impossible to enforce and impossible to repeal.

Austin Allen is the author of  Pleasures of the Game  (Waywiser Press, 2016), winner of the Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize. He has taught creative writing at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Cincinnati.    

Emma Lazarus

The new colossus, the colossus, crossing brooklyn ferry, poetry and form.

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Emma Lazarus was born in New York City to a wealthy family and educated by private tutors. She began writing and translating poetry as a teenager and was publishing translations...

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The Many Conflicting Identities of the Statue of Liberty

Eastern and western, feminine and masculine, motherly yet ready for war, the sculpture holds a multitude of meanings.

Courtesy of the New York Public Library .

by Francesca Lidia Viano | November 5, 2018

In the years since, Bartholdi’s statue has come to mean many things to the millions of people she has welcomed to America. For some, she is a tender mother protecting the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free”; for others, she is the guardian of the nation’s ideals—liberty and democracy—against foreign threats. For Bartholdi, too, the statue captured a variety of meanings, like the dignity and rectitude he discovered in cities such as New York, Boston, and Philadelphia alongside the wildness he relished elsewhere in the young nation.

When Bartholdi arrived at New York Harbor on June 21, 1871, he was on a quest to meet potential clients (as he put it, rich “connoisseurs”) to buy his art. His friend and patron, the liberal author Édouard de Laboulaye, admired the United States, and had suggested Bartholdi could bolster his reputation there by building a monument to celebrate Franco-American friendship during the War of Independence.

Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi. Courtesy of Napoleon Sarony/ Wikimedia Commons .

Bartholdi had an idea of what his statue would look like—her basic design was a holdover from an earlier idea he’d had for Egypt—but he needed to refine his vision, find a location, and get financial backing to get it built. To accomplish these things, he would stay in America for more than three months, traveling from Boston to San Francisco.

Bartholdi’s distinct sensibility owed much to his mother, Charlotte, who had been widowed when he was only two. Beautiful and strict, Charlotte was a skilled manager of the family’s connections and properties who made her boys learn English and music, toured with them to London and the Pyrenees, read them Cicero and Goethe, and enrolled them in the atelier of Ary Scheffer in Paris, where they learned to paint and sculpt. Scheffer, a republican, introduced Bartholdi to his political friends, but Bartholdi was no activist: He cultivated friends and clients among republican activists, monarchical nostalgics, and the powerful Napoleonic elites of the Second Empire.

As an adult, Bartholdi still often lived with (and always for) his possessive mother. When he needed a break from her, he journeyed abroad. Between 1854 and 1867, he visited Egypt twice, and travelled through Bavaria, Corsica, Florence, Naples, Rome, and Venice. Dressed in a white turban and a loose tunic, he sailed the Nile and unwrapped mummies in the desert. He mulled building a colossal statue, brandishing a torch, at the Red Sea entrance of the newly dug Suez Canal. His design looked like a female fellah , or Egyptian peasant, and was intended as an anthropomorphic lighthouse celebrating French and Egyptian gifts of civilization to the East.

By 1869, it had become clear that financing a statue in Egypt was going to be impossible, so Bartholdi decided to try to build his colossus in the United States. Charlotte objected to the idea, skeptical that, as her son put it, “the same principles” could be applicable to “two hemispheres.” The leap from the Nile to the Hudson seems unlikely, but many 19th-century European observers considered America an exotic place, notable for its “dirt, untidiness, and noise” and also for the “Oriental” look of its “multitude of flat roofs, topped by a thousand chimneys.” By 1871, Bartholdi was already drawing on such ideas to show that Egyptian monuments could, indeed, be made to suit the United States.

Unpacking the head of the Statue of Liberty, New York. Courtesy of Wikimedida Commons .

On board the S/S Pereire , Bartholdi approached New York with an anticipation that he had rarely felt before: ferries crossed the harbor like “colossal flies” and yachts glided “over the surface of the water … like marchionesses with their long trains.” Bartholdi grabbed his notebook and sketched a version of his statue as a sort of Venus springing from the water—a strange Venus, indeed, with her arm stretched high like a colossal mast and her tunic pulled by the wind like a sail. Later to his mother, he described Bedloe’s Island, today known as Liberty Island, in deeply religious terms. It was, he said, the virtual point of convergence of the East and Hudson Rivers, dividing New York into three parts (Manhattan, New Jersey, and Brooklyn) as if “to explain the mystery of Trinity.” He marked Bedloe’s Island with a bright red spot on his map.

Ashore, the heat was intolerable, the city almost deserted. The few businessmen Bartholdi met there gave him the cold shoulder because, as he put it, they had “little enthusiasm for anything but themselves and the almighty dollar.” His meetings in the region were disappointing, sometimes even embarrassing. New York intellectuals bored him.

Bartholdi eventually visited Long Branch, New Jersey, and the summer home of President Ulysses S. Grant. In Long Branch, Bartholdi found himself in the middle of a beach crowded with swimmers, where he was the only one wearing a French swimsuit that, he realized too late, was “too skimpy” for the occasion. Later, when the toy importer Richard Butler invited Bartholdi to his New York mansion, he held forth about “religion, high principle, and so on” for hours on end, never offering the artist anything to eat. To his mother, Bartholdi wrote that the United States reminded him of “the principles you inculcated in me”—that is, moral austerity.

That was truer in some cities than in others. Bartholdi arrived in Boston on Sunday, June 29, on a brand-new Pullman train car, to the city deserted—“not a sound to be heard, not a person to be seen.” Seemingly, the living had all gone to church. Soon, Bartholdi visited the nearby city of Plymouth, where the sculptor Charles Hammatt Billings was gathering funds to build a monument commemorating the Pilgrims, the National Monument to the Forefathers: a gigantic, elegant woman, dressed in classical attire, holding the Bible with her left hand and pointing to the sky with her right. Bartholdi did not mention this visit to his mother, perhaps because he was too proud to admit that someone else had a plan so similar to his own. In any case, Bartholdi may have borrowed from the Plymouth project, which was completed in 1889, to transform his Egyptian fellah into a book-carrying Puritan icon.

Increasingly, however, Bartholdi began to appreciate a wilder side of the country. Venturing from Niagara Falls to the Great Lakes, he arrived in Chicago, where he saw “a combination of movement” that he had not yet seen in America, “maritime, terrestrial, pedestrian, and, I could say, subterranean.” Next, he travelled to Omaha, where he saw a woman undress and remove her “mountains of fake hair” behind only a gauzy curtain. He saw an untamed landscape “plunge into valleys and gorges” in the Rocky Mountains—“diabolical, something out of a fairy tale.” In San Francisco, he marveled at the sight of Asian prostitutes waiting under dim lanterns. From his diaries and letters, it is clear that these picaresque aspects of America dramatically impressed him. He was taken with the boldness of the American character and landscape, and its brazen search for the new.

Statue of Liberty Arm, 1876, Phildadelphis Centennial Exposition. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons .

America, Bartholdi once observed during his travels, was “an adorable lady chewing tobacco,” a beautiful woman with poor manners or, perhaps, a pretty lass made more charming by her coarse behavior. He commented, with admiration, that the citizens of the United States were the “ultimate oseurs ”—daring people, always defying common sense in the pursuit of innovation. “Sometimes they get it wrong, like all those who look for something, but among the infinite numbers of their efforts, there are always some that honor the spirit of invention.”

Bartholdi, too, was an oseur . His statue—colossal and metallic like the American technological inventions he so admired, looking like a ship sailing toward Europe, copper-red like the Rocky Mountains, carrying the revolutionary Declaration of Independence rather than the Bible—was hardly “proper.” Yes, she managed to convey the rigor and puritanism of the sculptor’s contacts in Boston and New York, those upright churchgoers who reminded him of his strict mother. For them (and for Charlotte), Bartholdi gave his statue the posture, draped tunic, and thorny crown of the early Renaissance saints or Christs he had learned to paint and sculpt in Scheffer’s atelier.

But then Bartholdi added a ruder twist to the statue’s pious look. Rather than making her appearance graceful, like that of the pure and devout figure standing at the center of Billing’s Monument to the Forefathers, Bartholdi sculpted a frown on his statue’s face, emphasized her masculine features, and wrapped her in a red copper mantle (long since weathered to green), which was meant to evoke the “devilish” landscapes that seduced Bartholdi in the West. The statue is, indeed, Eastern and Western, feminine and masculine, pious and devilish, adorable and rough, motherly yet ready for war. She may be promising vengeance in the name of the downtrodden, or she could be a sentinel holding the line.

But who knows? Perhaps, jaws tense and face straight, she may just be chewing tobacco.

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Essay on Statue Of Liberty

Students are often asked to write an essay on Statue Of Liberty in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Statue Of Liberty

Symbol of freedom and liberty.

The Statue of Liberty stands tall and proud in New York Harbor, a symbol of freedom and liberty for people all over the world. It was a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States and was dedicated on October 28, 1886. The statue is made of copper and is over 300 feet tall. It holds a torch in one hand and a tablet in the other. The tablet has the date July 4, 1776, inscribed on it, the day the United States declared its independence from Great Britain.

A Beacon of Light

A national treasure.

The Statue of Liberty is a national treasure and one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world. It is a symbol of the United States and its values, and it is a reminder of the importance of freedom and liberty. The statue is a popular tourist destination and is visited by millions of people each year.

250 Words Essay on Statue Of Liberty

The liberty enlightening the world.

The Statue of Liberty stands tall on Liberty Island in New York Harbor. It is a colossal neoclassical sculpture designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and built by Gustave Eiffel. The statue was a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States and commemorates the centennial of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It was dedicated on October 28, 1886.

A Symbol of Freedom

A gift from france.

The Statue of Liberty was a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States. The statue was constructed in France and then shipped to the United States in pieces. The statue was assembled on Liberty Island and dedicated on October 28, 1886.

A National Landmark

The Statue of Liberty is a national landmark and one of the most iconic monuments in the world. The statue is open to the public and visitors can climb to the top for a breathtaking view of New York Harbor. The Statue of Liberty is a symbol of hope and inspiration for people all over the world.

Conclusion: The Statue of Liberty is a symbol of freedom, democracy, and enlightenment. It is a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States and is a national landmark. The statue is a reminder of the importance of freedom and democracy and is an inspiration to people all over the world.

500 Words Essay on Statue Of Liberty

The statue of liberty: a symbol of freedom and hope.

The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States. The copper statue, a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States, was designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and built by Gustave Eiffel. The statue was dedicated on October 28, 1886.

Lady Liberty: A Symbol of Freedom

The Statue of Liberty is a symbol of freedom and democracy. The statue’s torch represents enlightenment, while the tablet she holds reads “July 4, 1776”, the date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The statue’s stance is also significant. She stands tall and proud, with her head held high as if to say, “We are free!”

The Statue’s Construction

The statue’s message of hope.

The Statue of Liberty has been a symbol of hope for people all over the world. It represents the idea that no matter where you come from or what your circumstances, you can come to America and start a new life. The statue has also been a symbol of freedom and democracy, and it has inspired people all over the world to fight for their rights.

The Statue’s Importance Today

The Statue of Liberty is still an important symbol today. It is a reminder of the ideals that America was founded on. The statue is also a symbol of hope for people all over the world. It represents the idea that anything is possible if you have the courage to dream it.

The Statue of Liberty is one of the most iconic landmarks in the world. It is a symbol of freedom and democracy, and it has inspired people all over the world to fight for their rights. The statue is also a reminder of the ideals that America was founded on. It is a symbol of hope for people all over the world, and it represents the idea that anything is possible if you have the courage to dream it.

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The Statue Of Liberty (Essay Sample) 2023

The statue of liberty.

Anyone entering New York harbor will take note of a giant monument standing before them: the Statue of Liberty. The figure is a huge monument representing a woman holding a torch. It is associated with liberty and freedom from oppression and represents hope for millions of oppressed people across the world. This paper analyses the Statue of Liberty.

The Statue of Liberty is one of the most important cultural monuments in the United States, representing and emphasizing the American values. One of such values is freedom. Lady Liberty, as the statue is often referred, reminds the immigrants that their search for freedom and a better life has reached its destination. Democracy is the other American value that is clearly evident in the statue. At the time of the assembly of the statuette, the Americans had been under British rule for long. In a democratic country, people should be allowed to decide on who will lead or rule them, and their views must be respected. Other countries need to intervene when the people of one or more countries are suffering from oppression, just as the French intervened and helped Americans to expel the British and restore self-rule.

The statue has its origin in the 19th century, and a French citizen named Laboulaye is credited with its establishment. Standing at a height of over 110 feet equivalent to a 22-storey building, and weighing over 225 tons, the Statue of liberty has special significance in the United States.  One of the defining aspects of the figure is the broken shackles and chains that lie at the feet of the stature. Chains represent suffering and oppression. The torch represents hope and light in the midst of gloom and uncertainty. The torch is covered with various layers of gold, implying the value that freedom has to the progress of the world. With regard to the crown and face of the statuette, there are seven rays on the crown. There are seven continents in the world. The rays represent the seven seas and a bright future for the seven continents hence the entire world.

The statue has artistic, historical, and philosophical significance to not just the immigrants and oppressed people, but to the rest of the world. From an artistic perspective, it is skillfully and carefully designed, and its parts are well assembled and fitted with specific meanings for each part. Its historical significance is meant to remind the world never to retreat into colonization and suppression of freedom.

In the 19th century, the French helped the Americans when the latter was at war with Britain. The British were determined to continue colonizing America hence Britons represented oppression. The French supplied Americans with ships, arms, money, and other necessities during the struggle for independence. The decision by the French government to establish a statue for remembrance of the French-American collaboration places major artistic and historical relevance to the figure.

In the modern world, subjugation exists in various aspects. African-Americans have struggled and fought against racism for ages, while other categories of people such as those exploited by various political regimes across the world continue to suffer. The Statue of Liberty seeks to encourage such individuals and assure them that the future is bright and the chains of tyranny holding them down will soon be behind them.

In conclusion, the Statue of Liberty has special significance to not only the United States and its residents but the entire world. The values of freedom and democracy are to be upheld and protected. Lady Liberty is a symbol of unity and a prosperous world, and the well-being of the world is dependent on the people’s social, political, and economic stability.

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Essay on The Statue of Liberty

February 18, 2018 by Study Mentor Leave a Comment

There are many famous monuments around the globe that are famous for their architectural renditions and some are well known for exhibiting precision in their making.

A very well known monument that is world famous is the statue of liberty, in the New York City of the United States.

The UNESCO declared his monument as a world heritage site in 1984. The statue is totally made up of copper as the construction material and it signifies a lot of important things related to human dignity and freedom.

Freedom of man to live his live with freedom and dignity is depicted in the monument.

Image Credit: Source

It exhibits high level of independence of man and inspires him to lead a life free of slavery and stand up for one’s own rights. It symbolizes the rights of humans like right to live, basic rights of humans etc.

The United States got their independence in 1776 and the statue of liberty was a dedication that actually symbolizes its independence.

The United States received the monument as a gift from the French government of yore. It was actually a kind of pact between the French and the US government and the French government offered the monument to them as a gift.

The monument also stood in its place to welcome many immigrants and to spread to them, the message of freedom and self-rights.

Table of Contents

History of Statue of Liberty

When Americans got their independence, they had seen what other countries that fought for their freedom go through.

People were in dire need of independence to lead a peaceful and dignified life. They looked out for ways to come out of their shells and be liberated.

On this account, this statue was a huge dedication and representation of their win. The monument is actually depicting a lady covered in robes and holding a torch in her right hand.

The torch is supposed to show way or provide new light in the way of people seeking fresh pathways to break free from old bondages.

It was a motivational and path breaking monument for all Americans and stands special in their hearts to this day. It is a sightseeing place, situated in the New York harbor.

Many visitors who visit the country for the first time flock to the island to get a glimpse of the statue in all its splendor and get captivated by its architectural beauty.

A French man was behind the construction of the monument and it was the biggest gift ever from the French to the Americans depicting their independence.

The statue of liberty was not built in a day. The French and the Americans had made a pact within them to break up the construction costs within themselves and worked out a probable equation.

The French government took responsibility to build the statue and decided to bear the building costs of the statue of the lady liberty. To stand the statue, there needed a pedestal that could act as a support for on which the statue would be built upon.

Construction and Fund Raising Costs of the Monument

The French government while deciding to build the statue, passed on the responsibility of the pedestal building to the American government and the American government decided to bear expenses for the pedestal or the stand for the statue. Next came the issue of raising funds to construct the monument.

The Americans and the French struggled alike to raise building costs for the monument but they could not raise enough funds from the public.

The work of the monument started looking impossible at a certain moment and both were worried about the same. So, a person by name Joseph Pulitzer came forward as volunteer to resolve the issue of fund raising.

Joseph Pulitzer had a newspaper of his own and his articles were very popular at that time and had lot of readers. Readers showed lot of interest in his columns and he used the same popularity to cash in on the fund raising need.

The American community had both middle-class and the elite class readers of this newspaper. It was quiet popular among both the classes, so what Pulitzer did, was that he wrote an article that directly talked about the dependency of the middle class and the rich class over each other.

It was seen that the middle class people always depended on the rich class to survive on their money and fulfill their needs.

This went in saying that the middle class could not donate anything or add to the funds as they had to borrow money from the rich class for their daily needs.

Next came the elite class which was so constricted in spending its money that it hardly cared for the fund raising call. Mr. Pulitzer caught attention through his newspaper by bringing into light these negative ways of both classes of people.

The article worked wonders and funds started pouring in for the construction. Gradually, the construction costs were balanced and the monument was built successfully.

Depiction of The Lady Of Liberty

It is a neutral feeling depicted on the face. Looks of peace and being in calm, dignified silence has surprised many critics worldwide regarding the face expression.

When the monument was built, it came to be a huge, massive structure that looked powerful and gigantic.

The message to the world through the monument was clear. America emerged as one of the super powers later and this monument directly shows the world why it leads as the super power.

The grace and the richness with which the statue is depicted speak for itself. The central message given by the expression is very clear when one observes the face closely.

A country more popularly known as the super power does not propagate ideas of slavery and curtail freedom of one.

It believes in free thinking and high quality of living. Richness in thoughts, richness in purpose and the idea to serve without fear and constraints are some of the powerful words that can be used to describe the monument.

The massive structure resembles the gigantic power the country holds in the world face.

The country has made a position for itself in all respects and people look up to the country for many inspirations. This very structure serves as a major inspiration to fight for one’s own self rights and to emerge as a winner.

The statue of liberty became so popular that it is depicted at many places in America in different sizes and versions. It is depicted in the US currency notes and coins also. The statue spreads the message of maintaining global peace and tranquility.

When constructing the statue, the US government was very particular about the inner details of the construction.

Every single detail regarding the construction was looked into with a great deal of attention as they were very sure they wanted a torch bearer that could spread the message of peace and love, not only to their own country but also to all countries worldwide.

It had to be a global thing, but standing in the lands of America spreading the message from its own land. So, the heavy structure needed a very intricate expert who had earlier experience in investing his time and efforts in such a huge construction.

The person who overlooked the construction of the Eiffel tower was hired as the structural engineer to build the initial model of the monument.

This led him to come up with a structural framework that became functional and the governments approved the sketch of the framework and soon began working on the construction.

Initially copper was used to build the model. After many years, the statue had to be re-modeled owing to the powers of the nature and this time bronze was used for the purpose.

There cannot be anything similar to the statue of liberty due to its serene beauty and it definitely attracts many a visitors and tourists to have a glimpse of the lady of the liberty and understand the global message it is trying to promote through its depictions.

The torch held by the lady consists of a flame depicted in the form of a gold leaf. The pedestal also looks very peculiar and has a star shaped structure with eleven points at different places on the star.

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What does the Statue of Liberty mean to Americans and what does it say to the rest of the world?

Thursday, December 9, 2004

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Four students in the Carson City school district recently won $250 savings bonds for their winning essays to the school's board annual American Essay question: What does the Statue of Liberty mean to Americans and what does it say to the rest of the world?

School board trustees paid for the student's savings bonds with their stipends for serving.

by Rebecca Doyle, 10, a fifth-grade student at St. Teresa of Avila School

Webster's Dictionary defines the word liberty as "freedom or release from slavery, imprisonment, captivity or another form of arbitrary control."

The Statue of Liberty is one of our great symbols of freedom and justice. It was originally called "Liberty Enlightening the World." She holds a torch high in her right hand to represent heaven's rays shining all over the world. In her left arm she holds a tablet with the Declaration of Independence on it. The seven spokes of her crown represent the seven seas and seven continents. The broken chain at her feet represents the breaking of tyranny.

When immigrants to America sailed into New York harbor and saw the Statue of Liberty they believed they had come to a better place than the county they had left behind. They thought of opportunity. Opportunities to find new jobs, to make a living, to practice their religion freely. It was very emotional for them. They could have been fleeing from famine, the lack of work or education, not being able to practice their religion freely or a bad government in their home country. They came to American because they wanted freedom to speak, to vote and to practice their religion freely. They sought democracy and acceptance.

The Statue of Liberty reminds us today how our county became great through the efforts of these immigrants, who were "yearning to breathe free." Is it different for us today? We still want what these early travelers wanted. We still want what they came so far to find.

They were looking for equality, no matter what gender or skin color. They looked for better jobs to support their families and send for them if they were forced to stay behind. If Americans today were deprived of the rights to have freedom to think, speak, travel, practice their religion and vote, they would be very angry because American these days sometimes take these things for granted. Some Americans today have still left another country behind, but those who were born here have grown up with these rights for so long that sometime we don't stop to think about them.

When people in other parts of the world see the Statue of Liberty, some of them think like those earlier immigrants and see good. Others do not appreciate our freedom and rights and want to harm us.

Perhaps American citizens everywhere should look more frequently at the Statue of Liberty to remind them of how lucky we are and that we have things that other countries don't. Lady Liberty still lifts her lamp beside the golden door.

by Adam Peterson, 8, third-grade student Seeliger Elementary School

The Statue of Liberty was a present from the people of France to the people of America, as a token of friendship. It is also known as "Liberty Enlightening the World."

The Statue of Liberty is a symbol of hopes and dreams. I think that it represents freedom, loyalty, pride, opportunity and peace.

In America, we have freedom to do what we want. We have certain rights that other countries don't have. Americans are able to live wherever we want and have our own religion. People can say whatever they want. So many people migrated here because they wanted a better life.

Loyalty is treating America how it should be treated - not trashing it, supporting it, helping it. If people in America weren't loyal to it, then it probably wouldn't be a free country. Everybody has to support the country to keep it going.

I am proud to live in America because it's a free country. There are good schools to go to. You can go wherever you want whenever you want. It's a beautiful place that is gun to be in.

We have lots of opportunities in the United States. There are good jobs. We can vote and freely express our thoughts and ideas. We can learn about what we want and read any book we want.

Peace means harmony. There are no wars going on in America. Americans see that they need to keep the country going by getting long. Everybody has to contribute for the country to stand.

The Statue of Liberty and the torch represent a welcome to all people who come to America. It is truly an unforgettable sight - a symbol of all that is America. The inscription on the bottom of the statue says:

Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-lost to me

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

by Rebecca Gansberg, 13, Eighth-grader at Bethlehem Lutheran School

The Statue of Liberty is more than just some old statue, it is a symbol of America's freedom.

What the Statue of Liberty Means to Us

The Statue of Liberty was originally given the formal name Liberty Enlightening the World. At her feet are chains that have been broken through, which represent tyranny. On her crown, the seven spikes stand for the seven continents and the seven seas. In her right hand, the statue holds a burning torch that symbolizes liberty. In her left hand, the statue holds a tablet which is inscribed with the Roman numerals, July 4, 1776. This is the day that America declared its independence.

Why are all these things on the Statue of Liberty you ask? All these things have something in common. They all stand for important issues of the United States. World means that she is a statue telling everyone what America is all about. The broken chains at her feet stand for tyranny showing that America has hope and we can accomplish anything we put our mind to. The seven spokes on her crown represent the seven seas and continents reminding us how far we have come since we declared our independence. The burning torch that she holds represents liberty meaning we are now free; the bonds of resistance no longer hold us. She holds in her left hand a tablet which is inscribed with the date July 4, 1776, the day that America declared her independence, reminding us of what we had to go through to get to today.

What the Statue of Liberty Says to the Rest of the World

Most of the world is not completely free like the United States. Most of these nations don't have a symbol of freedom like we do that says a lot about who they are and what they stand for. Living under something magnificent and wonderful like the Statue of Liberty makes you feel like you real have an important part in this world.

The Statue of Liberty tells the rest of the world that we are a free people and that we will protect that freedom, no matter what. It tells that that we are one of a kind and that we are pound of what we stand for. The Statue of Liberty says that we are on nation that will fight for what we want and are proud of what we had to do to get that freedom. It tells the rest of the world that the United States is not just made up of whites, or blacks, or one nationality, but a mix of all people and nations. The Statue of Liberty tells the rest of the world that anyone, and everyone is welcome here. It tells that that we are a fair county that is loyal to her people and will treat the people that live in the United States freely.

Knowing that you live in the United States where the Statue of Liberty is the symbol of freedom, makes all people feel safe and welcome.

by Nick Brothers, 18, Carson High School, a senior

As I gaze up and take in the site of our country's mother holding up a guiding light to all people, all self-worth and personal pride of past accomplishments diminish light into a dimunitive reality, leaving an empty space in my heart. Like a revelation from above, it was abruptly revealed to me: I am filled to the brim with a feeling of g reat belonging and love for a family, I realize, I'm a part of. My father, mother, grandparents, brothers and sisters were all welcomed by her at one point in time, a symbol of hope, an emblem of freedom, holding a position of strength, standing strong and firm. She is the uniting force in our family. She is our blood, the blood of freedom that all of us have the glorious blessing to feel pounding through out veins as we gazing upon her. Other countries don't' savor, for example, the taste of Thanksgiving dinner and the smell of our succulent liberty which fills every kitchen across the country. The anxiety and anticipation of Christmas morning is a gift in itself, given to us by Lady Liberty and kept in tact by the very document she holds in her left arm. She clings to the foundation, built on the sanctuary of rock and not-shifting sand, of the house that will hopefully last forever.

A single lighthouse and a beacon of truth shines brilliantly in the darkness of the world today. Consequently, everyone watches like newborn babies observing what their mother does and mimicking her every move in order to learn what is necessary for survival in the brutal harshness of reality. The torch is held high for all to see.

Determination for an improved tomorrow and a tomorrow where all people have hope of a wonderful life and the opportunity of hard work, which in turn will give birth to the eternal reward of perseverance. As it is, so many have fled the turmoil of starvation or agonizing suppression of tyranny to have the same fortunes that we already take advantage of and don't always identify as what should be celebrated ordainment. If it comes to be realized by all that Lady Liberty is the very symbol of freedom, justice, truth, equality and prosperity, then she will truly stand for the true America, which is already understood by those whose new life bears testimony.

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A Beacon of Hope: Welcoming the Weary

This essay about the enduring significance of the phrase “Give us your tired” engraved on the Statue of Liberty. It explores how this symbol embodies America’s historical embrace of immigrants and the values of compassion, empathy, and inclusivity. The essay highlights the challenges faced by those seeking refuge, while emphasizing the resilience and determination inherent in the human spirit. Ultimately, it calls for a reaffirmation of the commitment to welcoming the tired and upholding the principles upon which the nation was founded.

How it works

In the vast tapestry of human history, there exists a common thread that binds us all — the pursuit of hope, freedom, and a better life. For centuries, people around the world have sought refuge in distant lands, driven by the relentless desire for a brighter tomorrow. The phrase “Give us your tired” engraved on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty stands as a timeless symbol of this universal yearning for sanctuary and opportunity.

America, a nation built by immigrants, has long embraced the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

From the shores of Ellis Island to the bustling streets of contemporary metropolises, the United States has been a beacon of hope for those seeking refuge from oppression, poverty, and persecution.

At its core, the sentiment encapsulated in the words “Give us your tired” embodies the spirit of compassion, empathy, and inclusivity. It reflects a fundamental belief in the inherent dignity and worth of every individual, regardless of their background or circumstances. It speaks to the noble aspiration of creating a society where all are welcomed, valued, and given the opportunity to thrive.

However, the journey of the tired is not without its challenges. The path to a new beginning is often fraught with obstacles, ranging from bureaucratic hurdles to cultural adjustments. Despite these challenges, the resilience and determination of those who embark on this journey are truly remarkable.

The story of the tired is a testament to the human spirit — a reminder of the boundless capacity for courage, perseverance, and hope. It is a story that transcends borders and unites us in our shared humanity. As we reflect on the significance of the phrase “Give us your tired,” let us reaffirm our commitment to upholding the values of compassion, solidarity, and justice for all.

In conclusion, “Give us your tired” serves as a powerful reminder of the enduring human quest for freedom, dignity, and a better life. It is a call to action, urging us to open our hearts and our doors to those in need. In welcoming the tired, we not only enrich our own communities but also reaffirm the timeless values upon which our nation was founded.

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What is the tallest statue in the world? Here are some of the biggest

The word " monument " derives from the Latin "monumentum," meaning "memorial," and "monere," or "to remind," according to Merriam-Webster. Throughout history, structures have been erected to commemorate certain events, people and things of religious or cultural significance.

In the U.S., the country's first monument dates back to 1776 , though the Devils Tower in Wyoming was designated as " America's first national monument " by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906.

Many of these structures are larger-than-life, standing hundreds of feet in height. But what is the largest statue on Earth? Here's a guide to some of the tallest statues on the planet, including one in the U.S.

What is the largest statue in the world?

Standing 182 meters – or nearly 600 feet tall – the biggest statue in the world is the Statue of Unity in Gujarat, India.

The statue was unveiled on Oct. 31, 2018 and replaced the Spring Temple Buddha in Pingdingshan, China, which stands approximately 420 feet as the tallest statue.

The Statue of Unity commemorates Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel , a leader of the Indian independence movement and a former prime minister of the country. According to Gujarat's tourism site, around 5,000 tons of iron were believed to be collected for the statue's construction.

What is the biggest statue in America?

The Statue of Liberty is the tallest statue in the U.S.

From the ground to the tip of her torch's flame, Lady Liberty stands 305 feet and 1 inch tall , according to the National Park Service. At the time of its arrival in 1886, the Statue of Liberty was the tallest structure in New York City.

The statue was a gift from France to the U.S. It was designed by Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc and Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel, and was sculpted by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, according to Britannica . The Statue of Liberty was unveiled on Oct. 28, 1886 by President Grover Cleveland.

Lady Liberty is composed of copper with her internal structure made of cast iron and stainless steel. The signature green coating we know today was not always there.

Copper oxidizes over time. When the Statue of Liberty arrived in the U.S., its color was brown, similar to a copper penny. It took 30 years for the metal to oxidize and form its current patina, or surface layer, according to the National Park Service.

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‘Statue of Liberty’ image was created using Photoshop, not ruins from the artist’s home

In this photo illustration provided by Tammam Azzam, fragments of photographs showing destroyed buildings in Syria were combined using Photoshop to create an image resembling the Statue of Liberty. (Tammam Azzam via AP)

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CLAIM: An image shows a sculpture resembling the Statue of Liberty, built by a Syrian artist out of the ruins of his house. “This is the freedom they brought us,” states a slogan associated with the image.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The image is a digital photomontage by Tammam Azzam , a Syrian artist now based in Berlin. Azzam told The Associated Press that he created the image in 2012 using Photoshop to combine fragments of photographs showing destroyed buildings in Syria. He said it represents freedom sought by the Syrian people.

THE FACTS: Social media posts are giving new life to yearsold claims that misrepresent the image using erroneous details about its origin and meaning.

“This was built by a Syrian artist from the ruins of his house,” reads one X post that included the image and had received approximately 32,000 likes and more than 11,200 shares as of Tuesday. “With the slogan: ‘This is the freedom they brought us.’”

Others shared similar posts along with the Palestinian flag emoji, appearing to compare the impact of the Israel-Hamas war on Palestinians to the ongoing civil war in Syria. One such Facebook post had received more than 9,700 reactions and 3,600 shares.

But the image, titled “Statue of Liberty,” was created digitally and has nothing to do with the supposed slogan spreading online.

“I created the image using Photoshop by scanning and piecing together various fragments of photographs of destroyed buildings in Syria,” Azzam told The Associated Press in an email. “Regarding the misrepresentation, it is unfortunate that the image has been falsely attributed to a specific narrative. It was not built from the ruins of any house, nor does it carry the slogan attributed to it.”

The photomontage “was intended to comment on the themes of freedom and oppression,” according to Azzam. He said he created it in 2012 “as a symbol of the freedom that the Syrian people have sought and continue to seek in a country that has been devastated by the regime’s response to their demonstrations.”

Azzam posted the image on his Facebook account as part of what he described as a “broader series” he worked on while living in Dubai. He wrote that it “was not printed or exhibited in a gallery or similar venue, though it has been widely shared and discussed online.”

Syria’s civil war , now in its 14th year, has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million. It began with peaceful protests against the government of President Bashar Assad in March 2011, part of the Arab Spring popular uprisings that spread across the Middle East that year. ___ This is part of the AP’s effort to address widely shared false and misleading information that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP .

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What Donald Trump Learned From Don King

The decades-long friendship of two men who never especially changed.

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By Matt Flegenheimer

Reporting from Hollywood, Fla.

For more than three decades, the boxing promoter Don King and Donald J. Trump have shared an enduring friendship and some defining surface similarities: an unmissable hairdo and a self-regarding gumption that became a kind of superpower, a trail of beleaguered creditors and an unswerving conviction that more is more.

“Putting some gas in the tank,” Mr. King, 92, said recently at a South Florida casino bistro, presiding over a 4 p.m. lunch of New York strip steak, three eggs over easy, bacon, sausage, pancakes, grits, cranberry juice, coffee (“black like me”), with agave syrup and African hot sauce he brought from home.

His waiter asked if anything was missing. “Yeah,” Mr. King said, “we’re going to need more butter.”

As much as any figure has in Mr. Trump’s grand, rampaging public life, Mr. King modeled what Mr. Trump considered to be success for a Black man in America. For the former president, Mr. King was both ally and example — a half-generation older and an avatar of unrepentant excess and streetwise bravado in Mr. Trump’s 1980s heyday in New York.

If the famed promoter can appear airlifted from another era — when the boxing business was king, when Mr. King was the boxing business, when some scores were settled outside the ring and the legal system — this was the era when so much of Mr. Trump’s world seems to have congealed into a worldview.

“He was never an establishment guy and was proud of it,” Mr. Trump said in a statement sent by his presidential campaign, saluting Mr. King as “a champion and fighter like few others.” “He made money when others lost, and he’s done it for a long time. I rate him tops!”

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