Happy Birthday, Lady Liberty
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National Park Service
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The Statue of Liberty was dedicated by President Grover Cleveland on October 28, 1886.
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On October 28, 2007 our nation will celebrate the Statue of Liberty’s 121st birthday! On this day back in 1886, the Statue of Liberty was dedicated and President Grover Cleveland accepted this grand gift of international friendship from the people of France on behalf of the American people. A symbol of friendship, an inspiration to millions of immigrants, a landmark of freedom, or a guard over the New York harbor, Lady Liberty continues to enlighten the world to democracy and "from her beacon hand glows world-wide welcome."
The ties between France and the United States became very warm during the Revolutionary War, when the American colonies were seeking independence from Great Britain. Benjamin Franklin, who was the American ambassador in France during the war, developed a close relationship with the French government and the French people. With the signing of the Treaty of Alliance in 1778, the United States and France became allies against Great Britain. The French gave financial assistance to the Congressional forces as well as providing vital weapons, supplies -- and people. French land and sea forces fought on the side of the American colonists against the British.
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Library of Congress
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Workmen constructing the Statue of Liberty in Bartholdi's Parisian warehouse workshop
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In 1865, Edourd de Laboulaye of France decided that there should be a creation of a giant statue to memorialize the friendship and commitment to liberty between the French and the United States. The statue was to be designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi. It was to be completed by 1876, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence. As a joint effort, the French and American people agreed that the American people would build the pedestal for the statue and the French would build the statue itself, as well as take care of its assembly when it got to the U.S. Determined to move forward in the midst of financial troubles, Bartholdi requested the structural expertise of Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, the designer of Paris's Eiffel tower, to design the iron pylon and work on the statue’s skeletal framework. However, things weren’t going as well in America. A lack of funding delayed the building of the pedestal. So Joseph Pulitzer, (whose name is known today for the Pulitzer Prizes he founded) used his newspaper, the New York World, to call on people to donate money. This effort was very successful, and the construction of the pedestal was completed in April 1886.
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Library of Congress
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The toes of Miss Liberty found a home on American soil.
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The statue was completed in France in July 1884. For its journey to the United States, its 350 individual pieces were packed into 214 crates. It then traveled from France to the United States on the French frigate Isère and arrived in New York harbor in June of 1885. It took four months for the French to reassemble the statue on her new pedestal. Ten years past the centennial of the Declaration of Independence, the Statue of Liberty was dedicated in front of thousands of people on October 28, 1886.
The Statue of Liberty was designated a National Monument in 1924. The care and administration of the National Monument has changed many times since its arrival in New York and has been in the hands of the National Park Service since 1933. At the beginning of a major restoration project headed by Lee Iacocca in 1984, it was designated by the United Nations as a World Heritage Site. On July 5, 1986, the restored Statue of Liberty was unveiled to the public once again during Liberty Weekend to celebrate her centennial. In the words of President Ronald Reagan on that day, "We are the keepers of the flame of liberty; we hold it high for the world to see."
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Writing Prompt
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Read that is inscribed in the base of the Statue of Liberty. Who is the author of this poem, and why was it written? Read the poem again, this time more carefully. What does this poem mean to you?
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Web Sites
(National Park Service)