Lady Liberty, Our Beloved Landmark
The statue of Liberty Enlightening the World is an icon, a cliche, a beloved landmark. She is a work of art. She is colossal statuary. She is recognizable worldwide. She is a beacon, a light in the darkness, and a symbol of freedom. She is inspiring and she belongs to us, the people of the United States, a gift from the people of France. She was built to commemorate the hundredth year of American Independence and to celebrate the friendship of our two great republics.
The Historical Record by Andrew Jenson
Thoughts on the Statue of Liberty
"The statue of Liberty Enlightening the World on Bedloe's Island is the offspring of a sublime idea, and its progress was watched from its inception to its final completion with great interest by all the civilized nations of the world. It was on an evening in the summer of 1865 that the idea of the Statue of Liberty was first conceived. There was on that occasion, a gathering of prominent French politicians and journalists, and the talk fell upon international relations, and in alluding to the friendly feelings which had always existed between the French and American people, it was suggested that a monument be built in America as a token of this friendship.Frederic Bartholdi, one of the ablest sculptors and artists of France, was enlisted in the cause, and was told: "Go to America, study it, bring back your impressions. Propose to our friends over there to make with us a monument, a common work in remembrance of the ancient friendship of France and the United States."
Edward Moran's Painting of the Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World
Come Home Safely. We'll Keep the Light on for You.
Statue of Liberty Logo
Come Home Safely. We'll Keep the Light on For you. Lady Liberty holding her torch high. What a great sentiment! Choose from t-shirts, tank tops, hoodies, sweatshirts, mugs, caps and more! A fine way to support our troops!
Statue of Liberty Poster
Bartholdi's Inspiration for Lady Liberty
Immigrants
Fired with the idea which he embraced with all the ardor of his French and artistic temperament, Bartholdi started for America. No sooner had he reached the harbor of New York than he discovered what he thought the proper place for the monument - Bedloe's Island.It is said that the statue is the result of an impression made upon Bartholdi during that voyage to the United States, by the eagerness with which the immigrants crowded the decks for a first glimpse of the new land to which they were coming with such hope and confidence
He traveled extensively in the United States, met with much encouragement, made a sketch of his project, and on his return to France, placed it before his friends. An appeal, which met with a hearty response, was issued throughout France, and the birth of the work was celebrated Nov. 6, 1875, in Hotel de Louvre by a grand banquet, at which prominent Frenchmen and Americans were present.
We The People...
The Constitution and the Statue of Liberty
The Constitution and the Statue of Liberty. Does it get any more patriotic than that? Choose from t-shirts, tote bag, sweatshirts and lots more!
Fundraising for the Colossal Lady Liberty
A monetary appeal to the people of France and America
In order to raise the necessary funds a great number of festivals and exhibitions were held in different parts of France, and in 1879 all the funds necessary had been gathered. The head of the statue was exhibited at the Paris exposition of 1878.Bartholdi needed an engineer to help him with the structural framework of the statue. He hired Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel who would later become famous for the Eiffel tower which now stands in Paris.
Oct. 24, 1881, the anniversary of the battle of Yorktown, the committee invited Mr. Morton, who was the new U. S. Minister to France at that time, to come and drive the rivet of the first piece of copper plating which was to be mounted. It was the left foot of the statue.
The statue was nearly finished in 1883, but as the work on the pedestal was not far enough advanced to permit its erection, it was decided to leave it on display in Paris for the time being.
Arrangements were eventually made for the shipment of the statue to America. It was carefully taken down, and the several pieces packed in frames of wood, being first properly marked. They were then brought on board the transport steamship Isère, which had been chartered to carry it to America. The ship arrived in New York harbor June 17, 1885, after a leisurely trip of 25 days. On the 19th of June was the formal reception of the Isère and her precious freight, and the occasion was made one of the grandest festivities in the history of New York City.
In the meantime the Americans were taking steps to do their part of the work in the erection of the pedestal on which the statue was to stand. The necessary legislation had been done by Congress, providing for the reception of the colossal statue and its future maintenance as a beacon.
An appeal was sent out to the American people and they responded. The contributors for the pedestal included all classes of people. The wealthy banker's $500 was matched in spirit by sums ranging from 5 to 10 cents from school children, and the occasional $5 and $10 from a working man or woman.
Tall Girls ROCK!
Tall Girls Rock!
A wonderful Statue of Liberty Design. Do you have yours yet?
From the Designer:
"Are you a vertically blessed female ... or is your wife or daughter or mother or best friend? Stand tall and show your pride!"
Because Tall Girls Rock!
"Are you a vertically blessed female ... or is your wife or daughter or mother or best friend? Stand tall and show your pride!"
Because Tall Girls Rock!
Quotes regarding the statue of Liberty Enlightening the World
"Liberty Enlightening the World. A grand beacon raised in the midst of the waves at the threshold of free America!"-Count Ferdinand De Lesseps, on behalf of the Franco-American Union."The people of France contributed from many slender means, and of their free will, the aggregated wealth demanded for so vast an undertaking, all from their hearts as well as from their purses, and all for love of liberty at home and love of liberty abroad and in hearty homage to the friendship of these great republics."-presentation address by Hon. William M. Evarts at the inauguration of the statue.
"The work is well adjusted in perspective. The proportions of the great statue are symmetrical. The figure has the artistic representation of all the noble dignity of a woman, the majestic grace of a queen, and the attributes of a divinity."-William Horace Williams in Lessons in Art, 1898.
"The majority of the immigrants who come into the country from the East enter at the port of New York, and here stands a colossal bronze statue of " Liberty
Enlightening the World," which represents the teachings and example of free government in the Republic of the West. This statue, which stands on Bedloe's Island, now known as Liberty Island, is the gift of France to the United States as an expression of the friendly feeling existing between the two republics and on account of the affection of the American people for Lafayette."-The Student's History of Our Country: for grammar grades, Robert Green Hall, 1914.
"She stands as the recognized sentinel of liberty on the bulwarks of civilization, flinging the free rays of its lighted torch out into the gloom of the world's continuous contentions, warning the enemies of human freedom against further conspiracies for its suppression, and defending the ground it has already won for the enjoyment of the human race under divinely favored conditions."-The New England Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly 1887
FACIAL EXPRESSION - ATTITUDE - DETAILS
The face of the statue is one expressing strong character. Decision, force, and will power are seen in every line of the countenance. The attitude is dramatic. The impressive figure stands, holding aloft in her right hand a beacon torch - typifying the light of Truth ; in her left hand, a book, typifying Knowledge. From her crowned head a number of rays are spreading. It is symbolical of "Liberty Enlightening the World." All of the details of the statue are finely wrought; the firm grasp of the hand upon the torch; the arm, stretched upward; the wide, loose sleeves of the dress; the ample robe, clasped at the shoulder ; the finely shaped features ; the hair and the illuminated diadem encircling the brow. The colossal goddess stands 151 feet in height and weighs 440,000 pounds.
Statue of Liberty Framed Art Print
Lady Liberty holding her torch high.
Statue of Liberty Shirts
The New Colossus
Sonnet by Emma Lazarus of New York
The words of the poet, Emma Lazarus, are on a plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty and they still inspire us today. They have captured the American imagination.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-tossed, to me;
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Guarding New York Harbor
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Controversy and Contradiction
For all of the eloquent, powerful and patriotic verbiage of the time, America was not without its ironic contradictions concerning the Statue of Liberty.
- Saum Song Bo's Letter
- to the Editor "was originally published in the New York Sun newspaper and later reprinted in the American Missionary Magazine.
Congress had passed the Chinese Exclusion Act three years before which prohibited further immigration of Chinese laborers and denied Chinese immigrants the right to become naturalized citizens. Excluded from political participation and denied civil rights as symbolized by the Statue of Liberty, Chinese immigrants such as Saum Song Bo considered it an insult that they were being asked to contribute funds toward the building of the statue. To add salt to the wound, the statue was a gift from France, which that same year had defeated Chinese troops in Indochina and begun to colonize the area that is now Vietnam."
From Chinese American Voices: From the Gold Rush to the Present by Judy Young, Gordon H. Chang, Him Mark Lai published in 2006 - Rumors of a Black Statue of Liberty
- This is a summary report on the National Park Service website about rumors that the Statue of Liberty was about the slavery issue in America.
The sculptor Bartholdi and his patron Laboulaye were both abolitionists so there may be some truth to that but is believed that the intention was to portray a much broader interpretation of liberty. Click on the above link for more information.
It was many years later that Lady Liberty became symbolic of our welcoming of immigrants.
Lady Liberty's Original Torch
Dimensions of the Statue of Liberty
Heel to top of head 111 ft 6 inLength of hand 16 ft 5 in
Index finger 8 ft
Circumference at second joint 7 ft 6 in
Size of finger nail 13x10 inches
Head from chin to cranium 17 ft 3 in
Head thickness from ear to ear 10 ft
Distance across the eye 2 ft 6 in
Length of nose 4 ft 6 in
Right arm length 42 ft
Right arm greatest thickness 12 ft
Thickness of waist 35 ft
Width of mouth 3 ft
Tablet length 23 ft 7 in
Tablet thickness 2 ft
Height of pedestal 89 ft
Square sides at base each 62 ft
Square sides at top, each 40 ft
Grecian columns, above base 72 ft 8 in
Height of foundation 65 ft
The light is visible 24 ½ miles at sea. In 1891 it was said that as many as 1500 birds killed themselves in a single night flying against the lighted torch.
New York, Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty Journals
The Freemasons and the statue of Liberty Enlightening the World
Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York
The Grand Lodge of New York has to its credit the ceremonial laying of cornerstones of hundreds of public buildings and monuments in the State. They include court houses, city halls, libraries, churches, schools, asylums, post-offices and other Federal edifices, soldiers' and sailors' monuments, the Washington Memorial Arch in New York City, armories, universities and State and County buildings.On October 9, 1880 The American Committee of the Statue of Liberty issued an invitation to the Freemasons Grand Lodge of the State of New York.
On August 5, 1884, in response to that invitation Grand Master William A. Brodie, assisted by his associate Grand Lodge officers, laid the cornerstone of the pedestal of the Bartholdi Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World, on Bedloe's Island, in New York Harbor. The copper box placed under the stone contained many rare memorials, among them nineteen bronze medals from the United States Mint, representing as many Presidents of the Federal Government who were all proven Freemasons; a copy of the United States Constitution; George Washington's Farewell Address; copies of New York City newspapers; a portrait of Bartholdi; a copy of Poem on Liberty by E.R. Johnes; and a list on parchment of the Grand Lodge officers.
Although cornerstones of public buildings and monuments had been laid by representatives of the Grand Lodge from the beginning of the history of the State, voices of opponents began to be heard questioning the propriety of the procedure. The Grand Master took occasion, therefore, to offer words of explanation at the laying of the cornerstone of the Statue of Liberty. He said that the Fraternity had been called upon for this service because it had become a common law of practice the world over to invite the Masonic craft to lay the cornerstones of public structures, in time honored recognition of the fact that, symbolically at
least, the Freemasons of the present are the descendants of the ancient operative Masons who built the world's great masterworks of architecture.
There was, besides, a special reason:
No institution has done more to promote liberty and to free men from the trammels and chains of ignorance and tyranny than Freemasonry, and we, as a Fraternity, take an honest pride in depositing the cornerstone of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World."
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More Controversy over the Statue of Liberty
The Freemasons were involved in the Statue of Liberty project from its conception to completion. Almost all of the parties involved were Masons. It was almost really a gift from the Freemasons of France to the Freemasons of America. All the Presidents commemorated in the box under the cornerstone were Freemasons. The sculptor and his patron were Freemasons as well.There are many allegations that as a project of the Freemasons, the Statue of Liberty is actually fraught with occultic and evil symbols. It is alledged that she is modeled on Babylon's evil goddess, Ishtar. The torch is a Luciferian symbol. The pedestal is modeled after the Babylonian ziggurat, the Tower of Babel.
It is claimed that when the Freemasons speak of liberty their definition is quite different. They refer to freedom from the Catholic Church and monarchies who claim to derive power from God and not the people.
If you do a search for Statue of Liberty and Freemasons you will be able to look through a number of pages on this subject. Is our Lady Liberty innocent and inspiring or deceptive and evil? Should we celebrate her or despise her? You be the judge.
Statue of Liberty Stuff
A tribute to Lady Liberty
That Statue of Liberty sends out the first greeting to the visitor from foreign shores, and speaks the voice of welcome to those who have escaped from the oppressing governments of the ancient world and come to make their home with us. That statue also bids godspeed to the ships that leave the great harbor of New York to carry our produce to the Old World. Look upon that statue on this day of celebration. It gives a parting salute to the age that closes; it brings a greeting to us that now take sail out on to the mighty ocean of a new century, and thus this day seems to me to speak most eloquently the prayer which we must realize through our government and which has been voiced so beautifully by that American poet:O Ship of State
Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State!
Sail on, O Union, strong and great!
Humanity with all its fears,
With all the hopes of future years,
Is hanging breathless on thy fate!
We know what Master laid thy keel,
What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel,
Who made each mast, and sail, and rope,
What anvils rang, what hammers beat,
In what a forge and what a heat
Were shaped the anchors of thy hope!
Fear not each sudden sound and shock,
'Tis of the wave and not the rock;
'Tis but the flapping of the sail,
And not a rent made by the gale!
In spite of rock and tempest's roar,
In spite of false lights on the shore,
Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea!
Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee.
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears,
Our faith triumphant o'er our fears,
Are all with thee, -are all with thee!
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
From The Nation's Birthday: Chicago's Centennial Celebration of Washington's Inauguration 1889
Committee on Centennial Celebration of Washington's Inauguration, 1789 by the Rev. Dr. E.G. Hirsch
More Statue of Liberty Stuff
The Statue of Liberty Timeline
Statue of Liberty Time linefrom the Dept of the Interior
1811 -Star-shaped Fort Wood built on Bedloe's (now Liberty) Island.
1874 -Fundraising for Statue begins in France.
1877 -Congress authorizes site for Statue but appropriates no money. Private fundraising begins for pedestal construction.
1881 -Statue assembly begins in Paris. Completed in 1884.
1885 -Statue dismantled and shipped to New York. Joseph Pulitzer begins nationwide fundraising for pedestal.
1886 -Statue reassembled and dedicated.
1916 -Black Tom explosion on New Jersey waterfront damages Statue and Ellis Island Great Hall. Visitor access to torch ends.
1924 -Statue of Liberty declared a national monument.
1933 -National Park Service takes over administration of Statue from War Department.
1937 -Statue closed for two-year restoration.
1941 -Military Police stationed on Liberty Island to guard Statue throughout WWII.
1982 -Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation established to raise money for restoration.
1984 -Statue closed for two-year restoration.
2001 -Statue and Liberty Island closed following 9/11 terrorist attack.
2004 -Improvements sufficient to provide full visitor access to observation deck level finished.
Your Thoughts on Lady Liberty?
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kab
so much more than just a just a statue! Posted August 09, 2008 |
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tandemonimom
Fab-u-lous lens! Thanks for all the info and trivia. Love the designs, too! Posted July 14, 2008 |
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mtnfam
I really hope I have the opportunity to see her some day! Great Job on this! Beautiful and Patriotic. Would love to see a lens on the US Constitution. Talk about the greatest document written by man! Posted July 08, 2008 |
