National Monument Archives - Page 20 of 48

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On this day, 134 years ago, President Grover Cleveland presided over the dedication of the Statue of Liberty. A gift from the French to the American people, Liberty Enlightening the World has welcomed millions of immigrants to New York and the USA.

The statue, made of copper, was designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi. The metal supporting framework was designed by Gustave Eiffel, famous for Paris’ Eiffel Tower. The sculpture was built in France and shipped to the US in sections to be assembled on a pedestal provided by the US.

Financing for the pedestal proved difficult. Publisher Joseph Pulitzer started a fundraising campaign and secured more than 120,000 donations of a dollar or less.

Lady Liberty holds a torch in one hand and a tablet inscribed with July 4, 1776 (In Roman numerals) in the other. At her feet lies a broken shackle to symbolize the post-civil war abolition of slavery. Over the decades she became a global icon for freedom.

Etched in bronze on the 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!” –Emma Lazarus