This week in history takes a look at Lady Liberty, unmasking the people and events that led to her creation.
Aug. 5, 1884
It was a muggy August day in 1884 when a crowd of politicians, newsmen and Freemasons gathered on the naked stretch of land atop Bedloe’s Island.
Bedloe’s Island or Oyster Island or Love’s Island, the name of this small barnacle of dry soil in New York harbor changed with its ownership. Over the centuries the island had been a refuge for Tories during the Revolution, a country villa for the wealthy, a hospital and, most enduring, a military fort.
On this day in history, the men gathered on the island were preparing to change its name once more.
The usual interminable speeches were given, the proud pronouncements of congratulations and thanks that accompany any and all formal events.
Finally, the moment arrived and William A. Brodie, the Grand Master of New York’s Free and Accepted Masons, intoned solemn words over the cornerstone of what would soon be the base of the Statue of Liberty.
It was a grand scene – despite the thick air of a New York Summer – and one that proved a fitting conclusion to a journey that had begun decades earlier in a dining room in Paris.
The inception
In the summer of 1865, a group of men sat around a table in the suburbs of the City of Lights, discussing the politics of the day. In attendance was a somewhat hodgepodge collection of characters: Edouard Rene de Laboulaye, the owner of the house and a well-known author; noted historian Henri Martin; Oscar and Edmond de Lafayette, grandsons of the Marquis de Lafayette of American Revolution fame; and a young artist from the Alsace region, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi.
It was reportedly Laboulaye who first off-handedly remarked how wonderful it would be for France to present the American people with a monument to memorialize the friendship between the two nations, two sister republics and bastions of freedom.
Although no action would be taken for some years, the idea of a monument germinated in the creative mind of the young artist Bartholdi, where it found fertile ground.
Following the 1870 revolution that overthrew the Louis-Napoleon monarchy and the disastrous conclusion to the Franco-Prussian War, the time seemed ripe for France to reconnect with America.
In 1871, the plan for the as-yet-unnamed monument was rejuvenated, with Laboulaye garnering support for the project at home and Bartholdi raising interest in America.
It was decided that America would finance the construction of the pedestal and France that of the statue itself. The plan was to erect the monument by July 4, 1876 – the centennial anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The iconic monument took form as a resolute lady liberty. In one hand she held a tablet bearing the date of July 4, 1776; in the other, a blazing torch of enlightenment. The statue’s symbolism, as well as its actual name, "Liberty Enlightening the World," reflected the emotions behind her formation.
To the values of liberty, freedom and knowledge would Lady Liberty stand at the entrance to America, proclaiming their superiority over all others. Her very genealogy would be a testament to the deep kinship between France and America.
The reality
Despite raising a significant amount of money for both the pedestal and the actual statue, Lady Liberty arose from the heaps of bronze, copper and iron only incrementally.
Rather than unveiling her in all her glory on July 4, 1876, Bartholdi and his compatriots could only show her extended arm, clutching the torch. They built the rest of Lady Liberty over the next eight years.
When the French finally finished their part of the bargain in 1884, they looked to the Americans to uphold theirs.
With the ceremonial cornerstone laying on Aug. 5, 1884, construction of the pedestal began in earnest. It still took two years to complete.
In that time, Lady Liberty had been disassembled, packed aboard a French ship and unloaded in New York, only to wait while workers finished construction of her pedestal.
Rather than a hindrance to the project, the old star-shaped Fort Wood that had sat on the island for almost a century had been incorporated into Liberty’s base.
Finally, in 1886 all was ready for assembling her in her final place. The work proceeded rapidly and by October 28, 1886—just 10 years and three months late—Bartholdi himself drew back the French flag covering Liberty’s face to the sounds of whistles, the roar of guns and the applause of those below.
The Statue of Liberty, as the striking monument was popularly nicknamed, stood 151 feet tall.
Although first envisioned as a monument to democracy and enlightenment, the symbolism of the statue evolved with the nation.
When, in 1903, officials placed a bronze plaque bearing Emma Lazarus’ now-famous poem, "The New Colossus," Liberty became an emblem of America’s promise to the world’s poor. With her austere gaze, she commanded the entry into the port of New York.
She still stands there today, a testament to the value of freedom so greatly cherished by the democracies that birthed her. "Give me your tired, your poor; Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free… I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Antone Pierucci is a Sacramento-based public historian and a freelance writer whose work has been featured in such magazines as Archaeology and Wild West as well as regional California newspapers.
This Week in History: The creation of Lady Liberty
- ANTONE PIERUCCI
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