Fun Facts about Lady Liberty
Fun Fact #588
Lady Liberty
This past Monday, October 28th, 2024 was the 138th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty’s dedication (sorry this fun fact is late –I didn't know before it was on radio late in the day.). However it was not always the Symbol of immigration and the American dream we see today but has an older purpose which still raises questions today. So without further ado lets get right into the Fun Fact.
During the years 1861-1865 the world was in a time of troubles. Most in the US know these as the years when The American Civil War waged on, but France faced troubles of its own. To start they opened up free trade in 1861 introducing international market competition to France’s economy for the first time, which harmed their economy quickly going into debt. This also allowed new ideas to flow which scared the French as Europe saw the rise of several groups during this time of people previously held in serfdom to their lands wanted freedom and to form their own nations leading to the rise of Poland who finally became a free nation again, The Austria-Hungarian Empire seeing rebellions and The Ottoman Empire started hemorrhaging lands to birth new nations. Yet worst of all to France’s pride, Italy’s unification movement sought and successfully took some of France’s land. That was it! France decided it was going to assert its dominance and be rid of their separatists by sending over 50,000 troops to overthrow the Mexican government and install a French puppet. Which promptly failed when the Americans –fresh from the civil war– decided that kicking around the French in Mexico would be a great team building exercise for the newly reunited Union. France’s Puppet lost his head shortly afterwards thanks to a coalition of Mexican, Union, and Confederate Soldiers marching upon the invading army.
And there in 1865, France sat under threat of breaking apart when one man had a rather interesting idea. If they could get the Frenchmen to rally behind a unifying symbol then perhaps Crisis could be avoided! Édouard René de Laboulaye suggested to architect Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi to redesign his proposed statue in Egypt (which was rejected due to it’s immense cost) into a Statue for the French people to rally behind. Work on the initial design began and was almost finished when Bartholdi was called to be a Lieutenant in The Franco-Prussian war. You see the statue –while helpful to a French Identity– did nothing to sooth the various nations angry at France’s actions. Thus Bartholdi soon found himself as the French liaison to the Italian General Garabaldi, earning the prestige (and later money from making war memorials) to retire to The USA post war.
Yet he brought the designs with him, and he did not forget his love for his country, nor the trouble it was still facing after yet another loss. So there at his Home in Rode Island –like the image of a mad scientist– he set to work on altering the Statue again with his grandest design yet, and set his sights on the world.
To be continued in Tomorrow’s Fun Fact! #589!
Sorry that was getting a bit long, so I hope you enjoy this 2-parter. If you want to read the full history (as I’ve cut a lot out for time) then please feel free to visit statueofliberty. Org for their digital libraries and archived on the subject or the National Park Service’s website which keeps separate records. Thanks for reading and please have a wonderful day!
Image of The Statue’s Architect Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi
Fun Fact #589
“Liberty Enlighting The World”
Our story today picks up in Rhode Island, with French architect and American Immigrant Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, as he was trying to find a way to help his home country of France solidify its internal image and sooth its relations with foreign nations. His awnser was simple: World Domination, but not of the physical kind, but rather of The Mind. If he could find a symbol that every nation could get behind then it might be possible to unify the nations more closely via their shared cultures. Then his (newly wed) wife found the solution, “Liberty”.
Everyone in the world wanted to be free to do what they wanted without oppressive restrictions, the last decade had proven that much with so many new countries, Unification and separatist movements. Heck even France itself had relaxed its restrictions on trade, surely a Symbol of this Liberty could unify people, and they had the perfect opportunity coming up in 1875: The Centennial (100th) Anniversary of The American Revolution. The design was quickly altered to be a gift from France to The USA in a celebration of their partnership during the Revolution. The chains in the left hand were changed to a Tablet with JULY IV MDCCLXXVI (July 4, 1776, in Roman numerals), and the Statue stepping on a chain was added to show the overthrow of Oppression (regardless of sex, race, or Nationality), and for a personal toutch the face of the Statue was modeled after the kindest person Bartholdi knew, His Mother, while the body was modeled after his favorite woman on the planet, his wife. Now all that was left was to get France to agree to make it as a gift to The US.
One small problem though.. .It was VERY expensive, and France didn’t want to pay. Bartholdi decided that it was too vital, too grand a project to let die, and so he did the only thing he could do. He began asking for money becoming the first recorded (and successful) crowd funded project in History. First in France to get the forges to make the darned thing, then to The British to ship it at no cost, until the Statue wound up in and owned by the state of New Jersey. Alas this was a fate worse than death to Bartholdi and so he got a circus to help take the built Torch around on Tour and all the profits from the Torch attraction (people could buy tickets to walk around inside) would go to pay for it to be set upon Lady Liberty once completed.
Finally came the fateful day on October 28th, 1886 when the Statue named “Liberty Enlightening The World” was finally completed –albeit 11 years behind schedule.
