Summary:
The Statue of Liberty is sometimes referred to as "Lady Liberty". The statue's birth name was given by Frederick Auguste Bartholdi and is "La liberte' e'clairant le monde" or "Liberty Enlightening the World". It symbolizes the values of Americans such as freedom from oppression, democracy, and international friendship.
What does the Statue of Liberty stand for and the impact on the lives of Americans"
"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!"
Emma Lazarus
"The New Colossus"
(Andrist, Ralph 313-314)
This poem by Emma Lazarus is written on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. Emma Lazarus calls her "Mother of Exiles" in her poem. She was born in New York in 1849. Emma wrote her first book of poems when she was eighteen years old. When the early eighteen eighties came she translated Heine's poems and ballads. She also organized relief for the Jews and helped people from the Czar's ghettos to make homes in America. In 1883, she helped a the national campaign to get money for the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. The poem "The New Colossus"
Today Americans refer to the statue as "Lady Liberty" or the "Statue of Liberty." The statue's birth name was given by Frederick Auguste Bartholdi and is "La liberte' e'clairant le monde" or "Liberty Enlightening the World" (www.statueofliberty.com). The statue symbolizes the values of Americans such as freedom from oppression, democracy, and international friendship (www.statueofliberty.net). The Statue of Liberty is given to the United States to stand for a symbol of the friendship between the French and American people in 1865 (Meltzer 1961, 157). On October 28, 1886, President Grover Cleveland allowed the statue to be seen by thousands of people (www.inventors.com). The observers would gather around the torch of the statue in the 1880s for a breathtaking sight of the harbor (Andrist 1987, 314). The statue was two hundred and fifty-one feet above water and fifty feet taller than the "Colossus of Rhodes"which was two hundred and one inches tall. The Statue of Liberty was a "landmark of New York" just like the Eiffel Tower of Paris (Andrist 1987, 180). The Statue of Liberty was a "Centennial gift ten years late" (www.statueofliberty.com).
On June 19, 1885, France gave the United States a gift of the Statue of Liberty (www.invents.about.com). The historian E'douard de Laboulaye had an idea to give the United States a "physical symbol to celebrate the two nations during the American Revolution" (American Stories 2000, 226). The statue intended to be all from the French people (Meltzer 1961, 157). "She welcomed immigrants to America" (Prelude to the Century 1870-1900). While adults and children were migrating to the U.S., they looked at the statue. Immigrants came into American cities and the children crossed the ocean. The children received their first view of the Statue of Liberty (Weisberger 1964, 67).
The sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, born in Alsace, France, asked to build the statue. Bartholdi created many monumental sculptures but his most famous work was the Statue of Liberty (www.inventors.about.com). He wanted to make a lighthouse like a "torch-bearing woman" (American Stories 2000, 226) (www.inventors.about.com). In 1886, "the model for the Statue of Liberty's face was the sculptor, Bartholdi's mother" (American Stories 2000, 226). The architect of the pedestal was Richard morris Hunt in 1877. The Lime of Cement for the pedestal was from Widow Jane Mine in New York. The structural engineer was Gustave Eiffel and the method of fabrication was "Repousse Process" (www.endex.com). The statue was constructed of copper sheets that were made by framework of steel supports made by Violiet-le-Duc and Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel (www.inventors.about.com). There was no government aid involved only thousands of Frenchmen (Andrist 1987, 181). France had public fees, entertainment, and lotteries to raise funds to donate privately to pay for the statue. The United States had benefit theatrical events, art exhibitions, auctions, and prize fights to raise money (www.statueofliberty.net). The U.S. paid to construct the pedestal on Bedloe's Island by using ads in the New York World (American Stories 2000, 226). However the fund raising went very slow so Joseph Pulitzer opened the editorial pages of his newspaper, "The World." Pulitzer used the newspaper to criticize the rich that would give up their money and the middle class to depend on the higher class to pay for the funds. His plan worked and Americans started donating more money to build the pedestal (www.statueofliberty.net). The United States used one hundred thousand nickels and dimes to build the pedestal (Weisberger 1964, 37). The statue construction costs as of September 1986 was seventy-five million dollars (www.endex.com). Bartholdi made the statue in more than a decade and it was all copper. The statue was completed in 1885 and it weighed two hundred and twenty-five tons when it was shipped to the United States (American Stories 2000, 226).
"Streamed the people; convergent rivers of life hurrying and sweeping through a thousand channels to the path of the pageant" quoted the New York Times in the celebration of the Statue of Liberty. In June 1885, the transport ship was French frigate "Isere." While in Pairs, the statue had to be taken apart to be shipped to New York (Andrist 1987, 33) The number of pieces when the statue was taken apart was three hundred and fifty shipped to the U.S. and two hundred and fourteen crates were required (www.endex.com). The statue was placed on a granite pedestal from Leete's Island in Connecticut, inside of the courtyard of a "star-shaped wall" of Fort Wood. The statue's operation was under control of the United States Lighthouse Board until 1901. After that the statue was under the War Department. The Presidential Proclamation declared Fort Wood and the Statue of Liberty a National Monument on October 15, 1924. On May 11, 1965, Ellis Island became part of the National Monument along with the statue. (www.statueofliberty.net). It was presented to America by the people of France on July 4, 1884. The statue is on Liberty Island, formerly Bedloe's island and Fort Wood was fortress for protection of New York Harbor in 1811. After being shipped to the U.S., it went to New York Harbor on October 28, 1886 while it was raining (American Stories 2000, 226). In 1886, the final assembly of the statue and pedestal was held. The President, Grover Cleveland, accepted the statue along with the nation by stating, "We will not forget that liberty here made her home; nor shall her chosen alter by neglected" (www.endex.com). One million people looked at it while being brought to the New York Harbor. The sculptor pulled the cord to remove the French tricolor from her face. The New York Times said " a hundred forth of July's broke loose" (American Stories 2000, 226). On 1877, the right arm was raised on Madison Square in New York. The head and shoulders of her were also raised in the same park. The Statue of Liberty's torch lights up the night (Meltzer 1961, 157-158). There were more than twelve million immigrants that reached America during the final three decades of the century (Prelude to the Century 1870-1900). Americans had pride different from the immigrants because the country is
known as the "Common man." Every year half a million people were entering the United States by 1889. The poverty level and language helped bring people together in the cities and towns (Andrist, Ralph 313-314).
The face of the Statue of Liberty and Madame Bartholdi face are "unmistakable." The statue holds the tablet in her left hand which is the length of sixteen feet and five inches. On the tablet inscripted is "July 4, 1776" in roman numerals (www.endex.com). The statue has green patina that is the proof of copper. The copper part that needed repair was the torch sections which was new copper (www.statueofliberty.net). The height from the base to the torch is 151' 1" however from the survey of 1984 it was 152' 2." The foundation of the pedestal to the torch is 305' 1" but according to the survey of 1984 it was 306' 8." The heel to the top of her head is 111' 1" (www.endex.net). The weight of the copper used in the Statue of Liberty was 179, 200 pounds and 81,300 kilograms. The pounds of steel used was 250, 000 pounds and 113, 400 kilograms. The total weight is 450, 000 pounds and 225 tons. The statue has twenty-five windows in her crown. She has spikes in her crown and seven rays for the seven oceans and seven continents of the world (www.endex.com). Visitors have to climb three hundred and fifty-four steps to reach the crown. There are one hundred and ninety-two steps to reach the pedestal. There are twenty-five windows and gemstones that were found on earth on the windows (www.statueofliberty.net). Her index finger was eight feet long and her circumference at second joint was three feet and six inches long. The approximate fabric for dress is four thousands square yards. She was dressed as "Classic Roman" that wears palla, a cloak that hooked on her left shoulder by a clasp underneath is a stola which falls in and folds to her feet (www.endex.com). The statue's sandals are twenty-five inches long. Her shoe size, 879 is based upon a standard formula which you multiply the length and inches from the United Statues women shoe size.
On May 1982, President Ronald Reagon and Lee Lacocca wanted to restore the statue. They fund-raised eighty-seven million dollars between National Park Service and the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island foundation, Inc. The "date the most successful such partnership in American History" (www.statueofliberty.net). In 1984 when the restoration started the United Nations characterized the Statue of Liberty as a "World Heritage Site." Copper was an important factor in the restoration of the statue's insides and as well as the outsides. The replacements included one- thousand and six hundred wrought iron bands that would hold the statue's copper skin to its frame, the replacement of the torch, and installing an elevator. (www.statueofliberty.net) The copper part of the statue was needed to be rebuilt on the torch section. The new copper required painting before installation to match the same green color so it would grow more appealing over the years. The copper skin on the statue did not need to be rebuilt. The copper on the statue's inside and outside was to protect problems from weather conditions. There were copper saddles and rivets that now secure the skin and skeleton of the statue's inside. The restoration team came to some challenges with the Statue of Liberty. One the project supported by private funding under the government agencies. Second was involved two countries and two approaches to the restoration debate. Two years after the restoration on July 4, 1986 it became a "multimillion dollar project" (www.statueoflibery.net).
The impact on American lives was the great Statue of Liberty and how immigrants came into the United States. The immigrants glanced at the statue in amazement. Another monument during the time of the Statue of Liberty was by the German-American engineer John Roebling's was the bridge over the East River in Brooklyn, New York. It was half as long as any other bridge at that time (Andrist 1987, 180). The Brooklyn Bridge was two stone towers and four woven steel cables that could hold eighteen thousand tons (Prelude of the Century 1870- 1900). The months highest visitation is in July and August. The lowest visitation is in January and February. The average amount of people that visit the statue is four point two million people a year. The typical waiting time to climb to the crown of the statue during the summer is three hours. The admission fees to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island is free and all programs run by the National Park Service are free. The round trip ferry tickets are seven dollars for adults, three dollars for children, and five dollars for senior citizens. The only date visitors were not allowed to come was 1916. There was an "ammunition dump" that exploded at Black Tom Wharf by New Jersey (www.endex.com).
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