All Hail, Lady Liberty!
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It’s Statue of Liberty Day! All Hail, Lady Liberty! Photo credit: Ronile, Wiki Commons
Today is Statue of Liberty Day! Probably one of the most recognizable U.S. icons was officially dedicated by President Grover Cleveland on October 28th, 1886, to celebrate the centennial of the Declaration of Independence and the abolition of slavery. Officially named “Liberty Enlightening the World”, this national treasure was “a gift for the people by the people” from France to America.
Lady Liberty was funded by neither the French nor the American governments. Through donations, lotteries, souvenir sales, and fees collected through public fundraising efforts, French citizens raised the funds to pay for the construction of the statue. The pedestal on which she stands, as well as the erection of the statue, was also a fundraising effort, this time by the American people through similar grassroots efforts… crowdfunding in action.
Interestingly, though President Grover Cleveland happily officiated at the dedication in 1886, it was Governor Grover Cleveland of New York who, in 1884, vetoed a bill passed by the New York State Legislature to appropriate funds for the pedestal fund after the U.S. legislature had failed to do so.
According to the National Park Service (NPS), “After the Statue was presented to Levi P. Morton, the U.S. minister to France, on July 4, 1884, in Paris, it was disassembled and shipped to the United States aboard the French Navy ship, Isère. The Statue arrived in New York Harbor on June 17, 1885, and was met with great fanfare. Unfortunately, the pedestal for the Statue was not yet complete,” and money had not been appropriated to complete it. It was only through a vigorous appeal launched directly to the American people by publisher Joseph Pulitzer in his newspaper, The New York World, in 1885, that the shortfall of $100,000 was raised and the pedestal was completed. The entire structure was reassembled on Bedloe's Island in 1886, more than a year after its arrival. Bedloe’s Island was renamed Liberty Island in 1956 by an Act of Congress.
The total estimated cost for the Statue of Liberty and its pedestal was between $500,000- $550,000, with France paying $250,000 for the statue and the rest paid for by the U.S. for the construction of her pedestal and the erection of the statue. In 2025 dollars, this amounts to $7.5 - $10 million based on inflation adjustments of the total cost in the 1880s. A lot of francs… a lot of dollars… a lot of donations.
These lines from the sonnet, “The New Colossus,” by Emma Lazarus, Jewish poet and activist, appear on a bronze plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty.
A little history:
Liberty was the brainchild of French historian, abolitionist, and politician Édouard de Laboulaye, who is credited with proposing the creation of the statue as a gift from France to the United States in 1865, at the end of the U.S. Civil War. He felt it would signify the long-standing bond and enduring friendship between France and the United States, celebrating their alliance during the American Revolution. He also believed the monument would symbolize the two countries' shared principles of liberty, equality, and democracy, as well as the end of slavery in America.
Designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, Liberty was perceived by her creator as the Roman goddess, Liberta. It was Gustave Eiffel, of Eiffel Tower fame, who engineered the internal iron framework.
A bit of trivia:
Lazarus’ poem, “The New Colossus,” was written to support the fundraising efforts for the construction of Liberty’s pedestal. Irving Berlin put the words to music in 1949 for the score to Miss Liberty.
The Statue of Liberty is covered with a layer of copper that is very thin – about the depth of two pennies pressed together. When she was assembled on Bedloe’s Island, she was a beautiful brown color, and stayed that way for around 35 years. By 1920, the copper skin had begun to oxidize, turning to verdigris, the lovely sea green we know today. (Source: NPS website)
Lady Liberty has a 35-foot waistline, stands 305 feet tall, and wears a size 879 shoe.
The statue was completed in France in sections. The head and shoulders were completed in 1878 and displayed at the Paris Universal Exposition.
The monument also celebrated the Union's victory in the American Civil War and the subsequent abolition of slavery. The broken shackle and chains at Liberty’s feet are meant to symbolize this.
The shackle and chains at Liberty’s feet symbolize the abolition of Slavery in the USA.
The book Liberty carries features the date our Declaration of Independence was signed (July 4, 1776), while the seven points of her crown symbolize the seven seas, the seven continents, and the rays of the sun. This image is meant to convey the hopeful spread of liberty around the world and the example the U.S. was setting for other countries.
Speaking of ‘symbology’, in Dan Brown’s new novel, The Secret of Secrets, he specifically refers to Liberty. “The Statue of Liberty's crown acts as a radiant halo, or nimbus, that has historical roots in ancient art, where it was used to signify the special status of divine or sacred figures. The seven rays on the crown evoke the image of a sun god, symbolizing that Liberty is a powerful, enlightened figure who shines her light on the world.”
Taken in 2000 as we sailed past Lady Liberty in ‘Nine of Cups’. We sailed past her again in 2001… a more solemn time just after 9-11.
Access to the Statue of Liberty National Monument is via the official national parks vendor, Statue City Cruises, from either Battery Park in Manhattan or New Jersey’s Liberty State Park. Depending on the ticket you purchase, you can walk up the 162 steps to Liberty’s crown, access to the pedestal, Ellis Island, and the museums. Reservations are required. The fees are modest… $25-$35/pp as of this writing.
General Admission: Round-trip ferry service, access to Liberty Island, Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty Museum.
Pedestal Reserve: Includes everything in General Admission, plus access to the Statue of Liberty's pedestal and its observation balcony.
Crown Reserve: Includes everything in Pedestal Reserve, plus the ability to climb the 162 narrow steps from the top of the pedestal to the crown itself.
Take a ferry to visit the Statue of Liberty Photo Credit: Statue city Cruises gallery