Statue of Liberty — Faulty Idol of False Promises

Statue stands in the middle of its lost purpose. A beacon of immigration or a Celebration of the End of Slavery?

As the world progresses rapidly today, humankind yearns for stories of the past that it can admire or look up to. Therefore, history gets fabricated quite often with tales that sound more intriguing or include support for several cultures rather than just a single one.

Such is the case for Liberty Island in New York City.

Every sculpture in the world has a purpose. Even human beings are beautiful sculptures, each assigned an individual purpose. So, what exactly was the Lady of Liberty built for?

Individual Aspects Makes It Even More Intriguing!

The Statue of Liberty as known famously in every corner of the world came into existence in the year 1886. If we look deeper into it, the Statue of Liberty can be perceived as a composition of statues.

The face of the statue, the torch in the right hand, the draped robe on the statue’s body, and the tablet in its left hand with the date of American independence inscribed over it. All of these components add individual meaning and value to the entire statue.

The Face: Gender or Just Pure Inspiration?

If you talk to someone in the USA about the statue of liberty, chances are that they might include the title ‘lady of liberty in the conversation. The reason why the monument is mostly referred to as a lady is because of its commonly perceived feminine features.

Some theories observe the exact history of the statue and try to speculate who it was that inspired the sculptor, Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi to create such a distinguished face. These theories range from Bartholdi’s mother to Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom.

While both of these seem quite believable, it is also said that Bartholdi was a passionate sculptor and took inspiration from Egyptian colossal figures that guarded the Nubian tombs.

Standing for whom, Slaves or Immigrants?

The Statue of Liberty was initially just a mere idea in a man’s head just like every other great invention or creative innovation in the world.

The man, Édouard de Laboulaye was a Frenchabolitionist and had huge admiration for America. His main idea was to offer a symbol that would amplify the importance of freedom.

In an era that was still a bit hung up on treating humans as animals, such a symbol was meant to celebrate the abolition of slavery in 1865.

The original name of the statue as stated by Laboulaye was ‘Liberty Enlightening the World. But since it was very long and not the most intriguing, hence, it was changed to ‘Statue of Liberty.

The Story about the Statue’s Conflicted Formation

However, a deeper history contradicts this entire theory and argues that there was a point when the statue came into existence. Historians say that the point of existence identifies the actual purpose of the Lady of Liberty.

When Laboulaye first talked to his group of French friends in 1865, he passionately described his love for America and the freedom that came with the abolition of slavery in the same year.

Hence, he proposed the idea of a figure that would celebrate the freedom of those slaves and further recognize the importance of their freedom. Laboulaye collaborated with Bartholdi, a French sculptor, and painter with a deep love for large-scale public monuments.

Another Reason: A Symbol of Friendship between Two Countries

Initially, the entire Statue of Liberty was supposed to be a joint project between France and USA. It is said that the project was also collaborated upon by the two countries to build better relationships with each other.

France was also under the dictatorship of Napoleon III, hence Laboulaye thought that the foundation of a statue that exhibited freedom, would probably recognize democracy in his own country.

However, there probably was no guarantee about good relations because when the sculptor arrived in pieces from France, the USA seemed like a little kid who had forgotten to complete his homework.

USA’s Mastery in Delaying Inventions

The USA was expected to build a pedestal on which the statue would stand probably because the height was an important part of the entire architecture inside Bartholdi’s mind.

Come rain or storm, the statue of liberty still stands tall and strong today due to its distinctive architecture. Only strong winds are observed to sway the statue a little. Therefore, it took the USA some time (read ‘permission’) to put together the pieces of the glorious ‘Lady of Liberty on Liberty Island.

To build the pedestal, money was required. But, most of the money that was donated for this purpose was very little since it mostly came from rich Americans whose brains were kind enough to accept the idea of freedom.

Others claimed that liberty was a bit of a vague concept to be supported. The then Governor of New York rejected the proposition of offering government funds to build up the pedestal.

It was all a huge conflict as the ones who were supposed to pay, refused to do so and those who weren’t supposed to pay showed interest in the statue with the condition that it be built upon their terms and conditions.

The Hero Who Saved the Lady

On March 6th, 1885 a man with a familiar name, Joseph Pulitzer came forth to encourage the people of the USA to donate to the cause of constructing a pedestal to finally put together the Statue of Liberty.

Pulitzer was a newspaper publisher hailing from Mako, Hungary. In his newspaper ‘The World’ he cried out to his readers about the importance of donations for the pedestal and how the Statue of Liberty was a present from the people of France to the people of the USA.

This, unfortunately, was not expected to be enough encouragement. Joseph Pulitzer went on to publish the names and details of all the donators in his newspaper.

The plan was a massive success as by August 1885, Pulitzer had managed to get more than 120,000 people to donate enough money to assemble the pedestal that would go on to support the marvelous sculptor of a lady bearing a torch.

Sculptor and Origin of His Beloved Lady of Freedom

Although it is claimed to be Laboulaye’s idea to build the Statue of Liberty, Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi was more into Egyptian sculptures and statues.

While it is claimed that the face of the Statue of Liberty is based on a Western woman, Bartholdi got his inspiration when he first went to Egypt and saw the figures that guarded the Nubian tombs.

Upon reaching an older age, he went to Egypt once again and suggested the idea of a sculpture to be crafted on the Suez Canal and be named ‘Egypt Carrying the Light to Asia’. The sculpture would hold a torch guiding travelers through the canal. This idea was later adopted by Laboulaye.

The Lady Liberty Today

A thin layer of patina covers the entire body of Lady Liberty today with only a renewed torch in its right hand.

The original torch was detached and stored safely inside the Statue of Liberty Museum in 1984. The chains at the statue’s feet are further proof that its inventors were true believers of liberty and genuinely wanted to celebrate the abolition of slavery in 1865.