100 words essay on statue of liberty

Essay on Statue Of Liberty

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100 Words Essay on Statue Of Liberty

Symbol of freedom and liberty.

The Statue of Liberty stands tall and proud in New York Harbor, a symbol of freedom and liberty for people all over the world. It was a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States and was dedicated on October 28, 1886. The statue is made of copper and is over 300 feet tall. It holds a torch in one hand and a tablet in the other. The tablet has the date July 4, 1776, inscribed on it, the day the United States declared its independence from Great Britain.

A Beacon of Light

The Statue of Liberty has been a beacon of light and hope for millions of immigrants who have come to the United States in search of a better life. It is a reminder of the values that the United States was founded on, such as freedom, equality, and opportunity. The statue has also been a symbol of peace and unity, especially during times of war and conflict.

A National Treasure

The Statue of Liberty is a national treasure and one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world. It is a symbol of the United States and its values, and it is a reminder of the importance of freedom and liberty. The statue is a popular tourist destination and is visited by millions of people each year.

250 Words Essay on Statue Of Liberty

The liberty enlightening the world.

The Statue of Liberty stands tall on Liberty Island in New York Harbor. It is a colossal neoclassical sculpture designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and built by Gustave Eiffel. The statue was a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States and commemorates the centennial of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It was dedicated on October 28, 1886.

A Symbol of Freedom

A gift from france.

The Statue of Liberty was a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States. The statue was constructed in France and then shipped to the United States in pieces. The statue was assembled on Liberty Island and dedicated on October 28, 1886.

A National Landmark

The Statue of Liberty is a national landmark and one of the most iconic monuments in the world. The statue is open to the public and visitors can climb to the top for a breathtaking view of New York Harbor. The Statue of Liberty is a symbol of hope and inspiration for people all over the world.

Conclusion: The Statue of Liberty is a symbol of freedom, democracy, and enlightenment. It is a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States and is a national landmark. The statue is a reminder of the importance of freedom and democracy and is an inspiration to people all over the world.

500 Words Essay on Statue Of Liberty

The statue of liberty: a symbol of freedom and hope.

The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States. The copper statue, a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States, was designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and built by Gustave Eiffel. The statue was dedicated on October 28, 1886.

Lady Liberty: A Symbol of Freedom

The Statue of Liberty is a symbol of freedom and democracy. The statue’s torch represents enlightenment, while the tablet she holds reads “July 4, 1776”, the date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The statue’s stance is also significant. She stands tall and proud, with her head held high as if to say, “We are free!”

The Statue’s Construction

The statue’s message of hope.

The Statue of Liberty has been a symbol of hope for people all over the world. It represents the idea that no matter where you come from or what your circumstances, you can come to America and start a new life. The statue has also been a symbol of freedom and democracy, and it has inspired people all over the world to fight for their rights.

The Statue’s Importance Today

The Statue of Liberty is still an important symbol today. It is a reminder of the ideals that America was founded on. The statue is also a symbol of hope for people all over the world. It represents the idea that anything is possible if you have the courage to dream it.

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What is the Statue of Liberty?

Who sculpted the statue of liberty, why is the statue of liberty important.

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Statue of Liberty

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The Statue of Liberty is a 305-foot (93-metre) statue located on Liberty Island in Upper New York Bay, off the coast of New York City . The statue is a personification of liberty in the form of a woman. She holds a torch in her raised right hand and clutches a tablet in her left.

When was the Statue of Liberty built?

The Statue of Liberty was built in France between 1875 and 1884. It was disassembled and shipped to New York City in 1885. The statue was reassembled on Liberty Island in 1886, although the torch has been redesigned or restored several times since its installation.

The Statue of Liberty was sculpted between 1875 and 1884 under the direction of French sculptor  Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi , who began drafting designs in 1870. Bartholdi and his team hammered roughly 31 tons of copper sheets onto a steel frame. Before being mounted on its current pedestal, the statue stood over 151 feet (46 metres) tall and weighed 225 tons.

What is the Statue of Liberty holding?

In her raised right hand, the Statue of Liberty holds a torch. This represents the light that shows observers the path to freedom. In her left hand, she clutches a tablet bearing “JULY IV MDCCLXXVI,” the Declaration of Independence ’s adoption date in Roman numerals.

The Statue of Liberty is one of the most instantly recognizable statues in the world, often viewed as a symbol of both New York City and the United States . Additionally, the statue is situated near Ellis Island , where millions of immigrants were received until 1943. Because of this, the Statue of Liberty is also understood to represent hope, freedom, and justice.

Statue of Liberty , colossal statue on Liberty Island in the Upper New York Bay, U.S., commemorating the friendship of the peoples of the United States and France . Standing 305 feet (93 metres) high including its pedestal , it represents a woman holding a torch in her raised right hand and a tablet bearing the adoption date of the Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776) in her left. The torch, which measures 29 feet (8.8 metres) from the flame tip to the bottom of the handle, is accessible via a 42-foot (12.8-metre) service ladder inside the arm (this ascent was open to the public from 1886 to 1916). An elevator carries visitors to the observation deck in the pedestal, which may also be reached by stairway, and a spiral staircase leads to an observation platform in the figure’s crown. A plaque at the pedestal’s entrance is inscribed with a sonnet , “ The New Colossus ” (1883) by Emma Lazarus . It was written to help raise money for the pedestal, and it reads:

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!”

A French historian, Édouard de Laboulaye, made the proposal for the statue in 1865. Funds were contributed by the French people, and work began in France in 1875 under sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi . The statue was constructed of copper sheets, hammered into shape by hand and assembled over a framework of four gigantic steel supports, designed by Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc and Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel . The colossus was presented to the American minister to France Levi Morton (later vice president) in a ceremony in Paris on July 4, 1884. In 1885 the completed statue, 151 feet 1 inch (46 metres) high and weighing 225 tons, was disassembled and shipped to New York City . The pedestal, designed by American architect Richard Morris Hunt and built within the walls of Fort Wood on Bedloe’s Island, was completed later. The statue, mounted on its pedestal, was dedicated by President Grover Cleveland on October 28, 1886. Over the years the torch underwent several modifications, including its conversion to electric power in 1916 and its redesign (with repoussé copper sheathed in gold leaf) in the mid-1980s, when the statue was repaired and restored by both American and French workers for a centennial celebration held in July 1986. The site was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1984.

The statue was at first administered by the U.S. Lighthouse Board, as the illuminated torch was considered a navigational aid. Because Fort Wood was still an operational Army post, responsibility for the maintenance and operation of the statue was transferred in 1901 to the War Department. It was declared a national monument in 1924, and in 1933 the administration of the statue was placed under the National Park Service . Fort Wood was deactivated in 1937, and the rest of the island was incorporated into the monument. In 1956 Bedloe’s Island was renamed Liberty Island , and in 1965 nearby Ellis Island , once the country’s major immigration station, was added to the monument’s jurisdiction, bringing its total area to about 58 acres (about 24 hectares). Exhibits on the history of the Statue of Liberty, including the statue’s original 1886 torch, were contained in the statue’s base until 2018, when they were moved to the adjacent Statue of Liberty Museum.

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Statue of Liberty

By: History.com Editors

Updated: April 25, 2024 | Original: December 2, 2009

The Statue of Liberty was a joint effort between France and the United States, intended to commemorate the lasting friendship between the peoples of the two nations. The French sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi created the statue itself out of sheets of hammered copper, while Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel, the man behind the famed Eiffel Tower, designed the statue’s steel framework. The Statue of Liberty was then given to the United States and erected atop an American-designed pedestal on a small island in Upper New York Bay, now known as Liberty Island, and dedicated by President Grover Cleveland in 1886.

Over the years, the statue stood tall as millions of immigrants arrived in America via nearby Ellis Island; in 1986, it underwent an extensive renovation in honor of the centennial of its dedication. Today, the Statue of Liberty remains an enduring symbol of freedom and democracy, as well as one of the world’s most recognizable landmarks.

Origins of the Statue of Liberty

Around 1865, as the American Civil War drew to a close, the French historian Edouard de Laboulaye proposed that France create a statue to give to the United States in celebration of that nation’s success in building a viable democracy. The sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, known for largescale sculptures, earned the commission; the goal was to design the sculpture in time for the centennial of the Declaration of Independence in 1876. The project would be a joint effort between the two countries–the French people were responsible for the statue and its assembly, while the Americans would build the pedestal on which it would stand–and a symbol of the friendship between their peoples.

Did you know? The base of the Statue of Liberty's pedestal contains exhibits on the monument's history, including the original 1886 torch. Visitor access to the Statue of Liberty's torch was halted for good after German operatives set off an explosion on the nearby Black Tom peninsula in July 1916, during World War I.

Due to the need to raise funds for the statue, work on the sculpture did not begin until 1875. Bartholdi’s massive creation, titled “Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World,” depicted a woman holding a torch in her raised right hand and a tablet in her left, upon which was engraved “ July 4 , 1776,” the adoption date of the Declaration of Independence. Bartholdi, who was said to have modeled the woman’s face after that of his mother, hammered large copper sheets to create the statue’s “skin” (using a technique called repousse). To create the skeleton on which the skin would be assembled, he called on Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel, designer of Paris’ Eiffel Tower . Along with Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc, Eiffel built a skeleton out of iron pylon and steel that allowed the copper skin to move independently, a necessary condition for the strong winds it would endure in the chosen location of New York Harbor.

Statue of Liberty: Assembly and Dedication

While work went on in France on the actual statue, fundraising efforts continued in the United States for the pedestal, including contests, benefits and exhibitions. Near the end, the leading New York newspaperman Joseph Pulitzer used his paper, the World, to raise the last necessary funds. Designed by the American architect Richard Morris Hunt, the statue’s pedestal was constructed inside the courtyard of Fort Wood, a fortress built for the War of 1812 and located on Bedloe’s Island, off the southern tip of Manhattan in Upper New York Bay.

In 1885, Bartholdi completed the statue, which was disassembled, packed in more than 200 crates, and shipped to New York, arriving that June aboard the French frigate Isere. Over the next four months, workers reassembled the statue and mounted it on the pedestal; its height reached 305 feet (or 93 meters), including the pedestal. On October 28, 1886, President Grover Cleveland officially dedicated the Statue of Liberty in front of thousands of spectators.

The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island

In 1892, the U.S. government opened a federal immigration station on Ellis Island , located near Bedloe’s Island in Upper New York Bay. Between 1892 and 1954, some 12 million immigrants were processed on Ellis Island before receiving permission to enter the United States. From 1900-14, during the peak years of its operation, some 5,000 to 10,000 people passed through every day.

Looming above New York Harbor nearby, the Statue of Liberty provided a majestic welcome to those passing through Ellis Island. On a plaque at the entrance to the statue’s pedestal is engraved a sonnet called “The New Colossus,” written in 1883 by Emma Lazarus as part of a fundraising contest. Its most famous passage speaks to the statue’s role as a welcoming symbol of freedom and democracy for the millions of immigrants who came to America seeking a new and better life: “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!”

The Statue of Liberty Over the Years

Until 1901, the U.S. Lighthouse Board operated the Statue of Liberty, as the statue’s torch represented a navigational aid for sailors. After that date, it was placed under the jurisdiction of the U.S. War Department due to Fort Wood’s status as a still-operational army post. In 1924, the federal government made the statue a national monument, and it was transferred to the care of the National Parks Service in 1933. In 1956, Bedloe’s Island was renamed Liberty Island, and in 1965, more than a decade after its closure as a federal immigration station, Ellis Island became part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument.

By the early 20th century, the oxidation of the Statue of Liberty’s copper skin through exposure to rain, wind and sun had given the statue a distinctive green color, known as verdigris. In 1984, the statue was closed to the public and underwent a massive restoration in time for its centennial celebration. Even as the restoration began, the United Nations designated the Statue of Liberty as a World Heritage Site. On July 5, 1986, the Statue of Liberty reopened to the public in a centennial celebration. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Liberty Island closed for 100 days; the Statue of Liberty itself was not reopened to visitor access until August 2004. In July 2009, the statue’s crown was again reopened to the public, though visitors must make a reservation to climb to the top of the pedestal or to the crown.

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Statue of Liberty

On July 4, 1884 France presented the United States with an incredible birthday gift: the Statue of Liberty! Without its pedestal it’s as tall as a 15-story building. She represents the United States. But the world-famous Statue of Liberty standing in New York Harbor was built in France. The statue was presented to the U.S., taken apart, shipped across the Atlantic Ocean in crates, and rebuilt in the U.S. It was France’s gift to the American people.

It all started at dinner one night near Paris in 1865. A group of Frenchmen were discussing their dictator-like emperor and the democratic government of the U.S. They decided to build a monument to American freedom—and perhaps even strengthen French demands for democracy in their own country. At that dinner was the sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi (bar-TOLE-dee). He imagined a statue of a woman holding a torch burning with the light of freedom.

Turning Bartholdi’s idea into reality took 21 years. French supporters raised money to build the statue, and Americans paid for the pedestal it would stand on. Finally, in 1886, the statue was dedicated.

• The statue sways 3 inches (7.62 centimeters) in the wind; the torch sways 5 inches (12.7 centimeters).

• Visitors climb 354 steps (22 stories) to look out from 25 windows in the crown.

• The statue—151 feet, 1 inch (46 meters, 2.5 centimeters) tall—was the tallest structure in the U.S. at that time.

• Engineer Gustave Eiffel, who would later design the Eiffel Tower in Paris, designed Liberty’s “spine.” Inside the statue four huge iron columns support a metal framework that holds the thin copper skin.

• Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi knew he wanted to build a giant copper goddess; he used his mother as the model.

• The statue is covered in 300 sheets of coin-thin copper. They were hammered into different shapes and riveted together.

• The arm with the torch measures 46 feet (14 meters); the finger, 8 feet (2.4 meters); the nose, nearly 5 feet (1.5 meters).

• Seven rays in the crown represent the Earth’s seven seas.

"The New Colossus", a poem written by Emma Lazarus in 1883, is on display on the Statue's 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!"

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Analysis of Statue Liberty History and Sense Essay

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The Statue of Liberty is undoubtedly a symbol of freedom in all senses. Yet, certain freedom is arguably more vivid than others. According to some historians, a political one seems to stand out, overshadowing universal symbolism. Politics both domestic and foreign were the major issue at the time of the statue’s construction, and freedom was and still is an important topic in U.S. history. Due to the great value of this monument to American history, it is paramount to review the aspects of its value pertaining to politics due to the major impact of the statue in this area and demonstrate its prevailing significance in this field as compared to other areas.

The historical pretext strongly indicates a dominant political motive for the construction of the statue. The Statue of Liberty represents a Roman goddess of liberty, dressed in robes and holding a torch in a protracted hand. She wears a crown with seven rays that symbolize the seven continents. The statue was the idea of a French lawyer and abolitionist Edouard de Laboulaye. He was famous for being an advocate for the rights of slaves and the oppressed black population. The monument was going to become a sign of victory of the Union, a liberal and progressive side in this matter because the proposition was voiced in 1865 when the Civil War ended. The end of the political conflict over slavery that was one of the main causes of the war between the North and the South was going to be marked with a statue symbolizing freedom. The official date of completion of the monument was, according to the Ellis Island Foundation Inc., originally planned to commemorate the Declaration of Independence, one of the founding documents of a political entity such as the United States of America. In addition to that, the statue was designed to honor the ties of France and the U.S. For the two countries that share common ideals and value freedom and are inspired by its revolutions, a Statue of Liberty became a demonstration of political closeness that persists. The choice of the place was also specific. The newly arriving immigrants were expected to be inspired by the greatness and of the United States and demonstrate its core values of building patriotism for the country from its mere borderlines.

Along with an overwhelming amount of historical data to vote for the prevalence of political connotations, among historians, there seems to have been no evident and fierce argument about it. However, the main symbols such as freedom, the rule of law, and leadership can indeed be found underlined in their works. According to Hunt, the Roman goddess with a torch in her hand symbolizes the end of the monarchic rule and its submission to the republican ideas, which mirrors the liberal ideas of France and assures support for them in America. In the works of Yellin, there is evidence that the bloom of the feminist movement was connected with the usage of the Statue of Liberty as a symbol of a strong woman in a political and social campaign for female rights. However, according to UNESCO’s historians, de Laboulaye envisioned the statue to be the symbol of friendship between all nations and progress. Although, they also notice that the statue reflects an American-French alliance.

Being historically infused with political meaning, the Statue of Liberty seems to have been successfully shaping the image of the U.S. from the day it was installed. It is evident from the fact that the basic freedoms and rights of a human being are still valued and protected by the constitution and the whole power of the law enforcement structures. Each citizen of the U.S. is free to exercise his or her right to free speech, religious practice, assembly, etc. However, the equality of all people has long been an issue in the country. The black race has struggled and still struggles for equal rights, fair employment, and other freedoms that should naturally be given, as the declaration of independence commemorated by the Statue insists that all people are born equal. It is not the flaw of the Statue, it is a flaw of the American people who fail to fulfill the ideas they imbued into it. The political course of the country has shifted from welcoming immigrants and treating them as builders and the foundation of the nation to unwanted elements of society, which also indicates the failure of the system and depreciation of the warm feelings towards the statue.

All in all, the Statue of liberty demonstrates its built-in affinity with politics through the very idea of its creation. All of the symbolism imbued with it serves to demonstrate the political strengths of the country, celebrate its union with France, and freedom from slavery. As such, a politics-infused monument the statue has done a marvelous job reminding the people that their country still upholds all that the statue represents, notwithstanding minor issues of inequality and unfairness. The knowledge of the true purpose of the Statue of Liberty and its depth of it seems to serve as a moral and political beacon for the present and future generations of presidents, administration officials, and citizens.

Bibliography

Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. “Statue History.” n.d. Web.

Jean Yellin F. “Caps and Chains: Hiram Powers’ Statue of ‘Liberty’.” American Quarterly, 38, no. 5 (1986):798-826. Web.

Lynn Hunt. “Hercules and the Radical Image in the French Revolution.” Representations , 2 (1983): 95-117. Web.

UNESCO. “Statue of Liberty.” n.d. Web.

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The Statue of Liberty’s Quote: a Beacon of Hope and Freedom

This essay about the Statue of Liberty’s famous quote, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” explores its deep symbolism and historical significance. The quote, from Emma Lazarus’s sonnet “The New Colossus,” redefines the statue as a nurturing “Mother of Exiles,” welcoming immigrants seeking better lives. It highlights the statue’s role as a beacon of hope and freedom, particularly during periods of mass immigration to the United States. The essay also discusses how the quote has evolved over time, reflecting America’s foundational principles of compassion and opportunity amidst changing social and political landscapes. It underscores the enduring power of the statue as a symbol of liberty and democracy, inspiring people worldwide.

How it works

In addition to being a well-known representation of the United States, the Statue of Liberty is a living example of the principles of liberty, democracy, and hope. Standing tall over Liberty Island in New York Harbor, this enormous monument has greeted millions of immigrants arriving by boat and is a potent symbol of fresh starts. Its pedestal has the famous statement, “Give me your weary, your hungry, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” which is fundamental to its ongoing meaning.

This passage, taken from Emma Lazarus’s sonnet “The New Colossus,” encapsulates the spirit of the American Dream and has a lasting impact on people all throughout the world.

The poem “The New Colossus” was written in 1883 by Jewish-American poet Emma Lazarus as a part of a campaign to raise money for the pedestal of the statue. In contrast to the ancient monuments that stood for empires and conquests, Lazarus’s poetry transformed the idea of liberty. The Statue of Liberty is shown as a loving “Mother of Exiles,” providing opportunity and safety to the oppressed, rather than as a conqueror. This reinvention is in line with the American ideals of being a place of opportunity where everyone can pursue their goals and take use of the liberties guaranteed by the Constitution, regardless of background.

The words “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” are particularly poignant. They evoke a sense of compassion and inclusivity, suggesting that the United States is a sanctuary for those seeking a better life. This message was especially significant during the late 19th and early 20th centuries when waves of immigrants arrived from Europe, fleeing poverty, persecution, and lack of opportunity in their home countries. The statue and its inscription served as a beacon of hope, assuring newcomers that they had a place in this new world.

Over the years, the significance of the Statue of Liberty’s quote has evolved, reflecting broader social and political changes. During times of hardship, such as the Great Depression or the periods of restrictive immigration policies, the quote has reminded Americans of their nation’s foundational principles of compassion and opportunity. In recent years, debates over immigration policy have brought renewed attention to Lazarus’s words, challenging the nation to live up to the ideals it espouses.

The quote’s enduring impact stems from its broad appeal. It alludes to the universal human need for independence and a better life, irrespective of country and cultural barriers. Many people view the Statue of Liberty as the pinnacle of liberty and democracy—a place where a person’s past does not dictate their future. This notion continues to be the driving force behind the United States and has inspired many people.

Furthermore, the Statue of Liberty and its inscription have become integral parts of American cultural and historical identity. They are frequently referenced in literature, speeches, and popular culture, symbolizing the enduring values of liberty and justice. The statue has appeared in countless movies, documentaries, and artworks, each time reinforcing its role as a guardian of American ideals.

In addition to its symbolic significance, the physical presence of the Statue of Liberty is awe-inspiring. Standing at 305 feet tall, it is an architectural marvel, a gift from France to the United States, symbolizing the friendship between the two nations. The statue’s design, with its torch held high, represents enlightenment, guiding people toward the light of freedom. This powerful imagery, combined with Lazarus’s evocative words, creates a potent symbol that continues to inspire and challenge people around the world.

In conclusion, the quote inscribed on the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal encapsulates the spirit of the United States as a nation of immigrants, built on the principles of freedom, opportunity, and inclusivity. Emma Lazarus’s words have transcended time, continually reminding us of the importance of compassion and the enduring power of hope. As long as the Statue of Liberty stands, it will remain a beacon for those “yearning to breathe free,” a testament to the enduring values that define the American experience.

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Short Paragraph on The Statue of Liberty for Students

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Short Paragraph on The Statue of Liberty in 200 Words

The Statue of Liberty is a statue located on Liberty Islam, New York, USA. It was a gift from the people of France to the United State of America as a symbol of freedom and democracy. This statue was dedicated in 1886. It declared as a National Monument in 1924. 

The entire monument’s height is 305 feet 1 inch or 93 meters. A french Sculptor named ‘Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi’ was the Sculptor of this statue. The U.S. National Park Service is the governing body for this since 1933. According to the information it was a gift from the people of France. 

At that time the French president was a huge supporter of the American Civil War. They wanted this land to be free and democratic. And this statue is also a symbol of freedom and democracy. The idea of the design has been chosen according to the origin story of America. 

Bartholdi and Laboulaye did huge research before picking a final design. There is a torch in the hand of the lady, and it’s the sign of education or knowledge is power. It has been an amazing spot for tourists in New York City. Lots of people come here to spend time and watch the Statue of Liberty. 

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The Statue Of Liberty (Essay Sample) 2023

The statue of liberty.

Anyone entering New York harbor will take note of a giant monument standing before them: the Statue of Liberty. The figure is a huge monument representing a woman holding a torch. It is associated with liberty and freedom from oppression and represents hope for millions of oppressed people across the world. This paper analyses the Statue of Liberty.

The Statue of Liberty is one of the most important cultural monuments in the United States, representing and emphasizing the American values. One of such values is freedom. Lady Liberty, as the statue is often referred, reminds the immigrants that their search for freedom and a better life has reached its destination. Democracy is the other American value that is clearly evident in the statue. At the time of the assembly of the statuette, the Americans had been under British rule for long. In a democratic country, people should be allowed to decide on who will lead or rule them, and their views must be respected. Other countries need to intervene when the people of one or more countries are suffering from oppression, just as the French intervened and helped Americans to expel the British and restore self-rule.

The statue has its origin in the 19th century, and a French citizen named Laboulaye is credited with its establishment. Standing at a height of over 110 feet equivalent to a 22-storey building, and weighing over 225 tons, the Statue of liberty has special significance in the United States.  One of the defining aspects of the figure is the broken shackles and chains that lie at the feet of the stature. Chains represent suffering and oppression. The torch represents hope and light in the midst of gloom and uncertainty. The torch is covered with various layers of gold, implying the value that freedom has to the progress of the world. With regard to the crown and face of the statuette, there are seven rays on the crown. There are seven continents in the world. The rays represent the seven seas and a bright future for the seven continents hence the entire world.

The statue has artistic, historical, and philosophical significance to not just the immigrants and oppressed people, but to the rest of the world. From an artistic perspective, it is skillfully and carefully designed, and its parts are well assembled and fitted with specific meanings for each part. Its historical significance is meant to remind the world never to retreat into colonization and suppression of freedom.

In the 19th century, the French helped the Americans when the latter was at war with Britain. The British were determined to continue colonizing America hence Britons represented oppression. The French supplied Americans with ships, arms, money, and other necessities during the struggle for independence. The decision by the French government to establish a statue for remembrance of the French-American collaboration places major artistic and historical relevance to the figure.

In the modern world, subjugation exists in various aspects. African-Americans have struggled and fought against racism for ages, while other categories of people such as those exploited by various political regimes across the world continue to suffer. The Statue of Liberty seeks to encourage such individuals and assure them that the future is bright and the chains of tyranny holding them down will soon be behind them.

In conclusion, the Statue of Liberty has special significance to not only the United States and its residents but the entire world. The values of freedom and democracy are to be upheld and protected. Lady Liberty is a symbol of unity and a prosperous world, and the well-being of the world is dependent on the people’s social, political, and economic stability.

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The unveiling of the Statue of Liberty in 1886 forever changed the New York skyline. Designed by Frederic Bartholdi, the statue was a gift from France – although Americans raised the funds for the pedestal she stands on. Only dignitaries were invited to attend the statue’s official dedication ceremony, but an estimated one million people took part in a parade and festivities around New York to mark the occasion. Read more about it!

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Essay on The Statue of Liberty

February 18, 2018 by Study Mentor Leave a Comment

There are many famous monuments around the globe that are famous for their architectural renditions and some are well known for exhibiting precision in their making.

A very well known monument that is world famous is the statue of liberty, in the New York City of the United States.

The UNESCO declared his monument as a world heritage site in 1984. The statue is totally made up of copper as the construction material and it signifies a lot of important things related to human dignity and freedom.

Freedom of man to live his live with freedom and dignity is depicted in the monument.

Image Credit: Source

It exhibits high level of independence of man and inspires him to lead a life free of slavery and stand up for one’s own rights. It symbolizes the rights of humans like right to live, basic rights of humans etc.

The United States got their independence in 1776 and the statue of liberty was a dedication that actually symbolizes its independence.

The United States received the monument as a gift from the French government of yore. It was actually a kind of pact between the French and the US government and the French government offered the monument to them as a gift.

The monument also stood in its place to welcome many immigrants and to spread to them, the message of freedom and self-rights.

Table of Contents

History of Statue of Liberty

When Americans got their independence, they had seen what other countries that fought for their freedom go through.

People were in dire need of independence to lead a peaceful and dignified life. They looked out for ways to come out of their shells and be liberated.

On this account, this statue was a huge dedication and representation of their win. The monument is actually depicting a lady covered in robes and holding a torch in her right hand.

The torch is supposed to show way or provide new light in the way of people seeking fresh pathways to break free from old bondages.

It was a motivational and path breaking monument for all Americans and stands special in their hearts to this day. It is a sightseeing place, situated in the New York harbor.

Many visitors who visit the country for the first time flock to the island to get a glimpse of the statue in all its splendor and get captivated by its architectural beauty.

A French man was behind the construction of the monument and it was the biggest gift ever from the French to the Americans depicting their independence.

The statue of liberty was not built in a day. The French and the Americans had made a pact within them to break up the construction costs within themselves and worked out a probable equation.

The French government took responsibility to build the statue and decided to bear the building costs of the statue of the lady liberty. To stand the statue, there needed a pedestal that could act as a support for on which the statue would be built upon.

Construction and Fund Raising Costs of the Monument

The French government while deciding to build the statue, passed on the responsibility of the pedestal building to the American government and the American government decided to bear expenses for the pedestal or the stand for the statue. Next came the issue of raising funds to construct the monument.

The Americans and the French struggled alike to raise building costs for the monument but they could not raise enough funds from the public.

The work of the monument started looking impossible at a certain moment and both were worried about the same. So, a person by name Joseph Pulitzer came forward as volunteer to resolve the issue of fund raising.

Joseph Pulitzer had a newspaper of his own and his articles were very popular at that time and had lot of readers. Readers showed lot of interest in his columns and he used the same popularity to cash in on the fund raising need.

The American community had both middle-class and the elite class readers of this newspaper. It was quiet popular among both the classes, so what Pulitzer did, was that he wrote an article that directly talked about the dependency of the middle class and the rich class over each other.

It was seen that the middle class people always depended on the rich class to survive on their money and fulfill their needs.

This went in saying that the middle class could not donate anything or add to the funds as they had to borrow money from the rich class for their daily needs.

Next came the elite class which was so constricted in spending its money that it hardly cared for the fund raising call. Mr. Pulitzer caught attention through his newspaper by bringing into light these negative ways of both classes of people.

The article worked wonders and funds started pouring in for the construction. Gradually, the construction costs were balanced and the monument was built successfully.

Depiction of The Lady Of Liberty

It is a neutral feeling depicted on the face. Looks of peace and being in calm, dignified silence has surprised many critics worldwide regarding the face expression.

When the monument was built, it came to be a huge, massive structure that looked powerful and gigantic.

The message to the world through the monument was clear. America emerged as one of the super powers later and this monument directly shows the world why it leads as the super power.

The grace and the richness with which the statue is depicted speak for itself. The central message given by the expression is very clear when one observes the face closely.

A country more popularly known as the super power does not propagate ideas of slavery and curtail freedom of one.

It believes in free thinking and high quality of living. Richness in thoughts, richness in purpose and the idea to serve without fear and constraints are some of the powerful words that can be used to describe the monument.

The massive structure resembles the gigantic power the country holds in the world face.

The country has made a position for itself in all respects and people look up to the country for many inspirations. This very structure serves as a major inspiration to fight for one’s own self rights and to emerge as a winner.

The statue of liberty became so popular that it is depicted at many places in America in different sizes and versions. It is depicted in the US currency notes and coins also. The statue spreads the message of maintaining global peace and tranquility.

When constructing the statue, the US government was very particular about the inner details of the construction.

Every single detail regarding the construction was looked into with a great deal of attention as they were very sure they wanted a torch bearer that could spread the message of peace and love, not only to their own country but also to all countries worldwide.

It had to be a global thing, but standing in the lands of America spreading the message from its own land. So, the heavy structure needed a very intricate expert who had earlier experience in investing his time and efforts in such a huge construction.

The person who overlooked the construction of the Eiffel tower was hired as the structural engineer to build the initial model of the monument.

This led him to come up with a structural framework that became functional and the governments approved the sketch of the framework and soon began working on the construction.

Initially copper was used to build the model. After many years, the statue had to be re-modeled owing to the powers of the nature and this time bronze was used for the purpose.

There cannot be anything similar to the statue of liberty due to its serene beauty and it definitely attracts many a visitors and tourists to have a glimpse of the lady of the liberty and understand the global message it is trying to promote through its depictions.

The torch held by the lady consists of a flame depicted in the form of a gold leaf. The pedestal also looks very peculiar and has a star shaped structure with eleven points at different places on the star.

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Home — Essay Samples — Geography & Travel — Tourist Attractions — Statue of Liberty

Essays on Statue of Liberty

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Statue of Liberty

According to “the new colossus,” why does the statue of liberty provide a “worldwide welcome”.

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The Statue of Liberty gives a speech in a poem. What is the meaning behind this speech?

Why did lazarus choose to end “the new colossus” with the line “i lift my lamp beside the golden door” and what is the significance behind this line, works cited.

• Lazarus, Emma. “The New Colossus.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature, by Robert S. Levine, W.W. Norton & Company, 2017, pp. 429–432.

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Poems & Poets

Emma Lazarus: “The New Colossus”

A sonnet stands tall where the ungoverned waters of literature meet the strict land of law..

BY Austin Allen

Is any poem more of a public institution than “ The New Colossus ”? Since 1903, when it was first displayed on a plaque inside the base of the Statue of Liberty, Emma Lazarus ’s signature sonnet has become one of the most renowned and quoted poems on the planet. It has managed this feat despite its author’s low profile during her lifetime, and despite having nearly lapsed into oblivion before its enshrinement. By now the pairing of sonnet and monument seems inevitable; the one has redefined the other. Lacking the force of law, yet permanently fixed in American civic culture, “The New Colossus” has carved out a literary niche all its own: it is a credo, a gesture of “world-wide welcome,” and a magnet for controversy.

As many commentators have noted, the poem is pluralistic in its roots. It is an Italian sonnet composed by a Jewish-American woman, contrasting an ancient Greek statue with a statue built in modern France. At the time of its writing in 1883, European immigrants—including Italians, Greeks, and Russian-Jewish refugees—were arriving en masse in America, stirring fierce debate and frequent hostility among “natives” (as U.S.-born descendants of earlier European immigrants called themselves). Within this tense climate, Emma Lazarus, a writer and activist from an affluent New York family, had begun volunteering to assist struggling exiles from Czarist Russia. Around the same time, George Eliot ’s novel Daniel Deronda (1876), which explores proto-Zionist themes, had deepened her interest in her own Jewish heritage. When asked to contribute a poem to a fundraiser for a statue-in-progress, designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi for installation at New York Harbor, Lazarus took what proved to be a frutiful approach to public poetry: quietly investing her subject with her personal experience and concerns.

As first conceived by the artist, Lady Liberty represented, simply, liberty. The full title of Bartholdi’s statue is Liberty Enlightening the World . Its subject is the Roman goddess Libertas, familiar from the Eugène Delacroix painting Liberty Leading the People (1830), in which she carries a battle flag and gun. To honor Bartholdi’s more peaceful representation, Lazarus stressed a different aspect of freedom: not the courage to fight the enemy but the willingness to accept the stranger. The poem’s early audiences sensed the power of the reinterpretation. “The New Colossus” was, according to Lazarus biographer Bette Roth Young, “the only entry read at the gala opening” of the fundraising exhibition that had solicited art and literary works for auction. Later that year, poet James Russell Lowell wrote to Lazarus: “Your sonnet gives its subject a raison d’etre.”

It has also given its author lasting fame. Young notes that Lazarus placed it first in the manuscript she assembled prior to her death, as if knowing the sonnet could make her reputation. It did, but it may have pigeonholed her in the process. Biographer Esther Schor laments that “for more than a century, [fate] has been busy whittling down her legacy to a single sonnet.” Fitting or not, that legacy is one many poets would envy; few poems have ever leapt so dramatically beyond the anthology into the annals of history.

And yet, after its promising debut, the poem was almost forgotten. Lazarus died in 1887 with virtually no readership. According to the National Park Service:

It was not until 1901 … that Georgina Schuyler, a friend of hers, found a book containing the sonnet in a bookshop and organized a civic effort to resurrect the lost work. Her efforts paid off…

They paid off more than she could have known. The plaque she lobbied for went up two years later, embedding the poem in America’s conception of itself—and, to some degree, the world’s conception of America. Millions of T-shirts and trinkets attest to Liberty’s power as advertisement for the American Dream. Read cynically, “The New Colossus” is therefore a kind of glorified “pitch” (it grew out of a fundraiser, after all), and “Give me your tired, your poor” is a touching but deceptive slogan. Read generously, the poem was an audacious reimagining not only of the statue but of America’s role on the world stage. If it lacks the irony and internal conflict we now expect from modern literature, that’s because it was a conscious act of political mythmaking. Either way, its vision reaches well beyond its text. As an August 2017 New York Times piece observed, foreign visitors often associate the statue with welcome before they’ve encountered, or even heard of, the poem that forged the association.

Inclusive as that message of welcome aspires to be, there has always been a segment of the U.S. population that rejects it. Historian Paul A. Kramer, tracing the history of American xenophobia for Slate , notes that between the 1920s and 1960s, “[immigration] restrictionists refashioned the Statue of Liberty into a militant warrior-goddess guarding America’s beleaguered gates.” In 2017, presidential efforts to shut America’s door on Muslim refugees, undocumented Mexican immigrants, and other groups stirred fresh disputes over the Statue’s symbolism. When a reporter at a press briefing asked how the White House’s policies squared with Lazarus’s words, a senior advisor, echoing a popular nativist talking point, objected that the poem was “not actually part of the original” statue—and, by implication, isn’t really part of its meaning. News and literary outlets soon featured op-ed retorts, analyses, and “New Colossus” tribute poems skewering nativist bigotry. 130 years after her death, Emma Lazarus was the edgiest poet in America.

Hardcore nativists are not the only source of this conflict, however. It threads through all of American life and even, in some readings, “The New Colossus” itself. Lazarus’s description of immigrants as “wretched refuse” may not be intentionally condescending (“wretched” is supposed to connote pity rather than judgment; “refuse” ostensibly means “exiled people,” not “trash”), but it has raised many eyebrows over the years. Journalism professor Roberto Suro has written that it “applies to some refugees for sure, but not to most immigrants.” Jerry Seinfeld used to mock it in his stand-up routine: “I am for open immigration, but that sign we have in the front of the Statue of Liberty … Do we have to specify ‘the wretched refuse?’ … Why not just say, ‘Give us the unhappy, the sad, the slow, the ugly, the people that can’t drive…’”

Beneath the flip humor lie real tensions and questions. Does the poem’s humane plea contain a whiff of snobbery? Does it caricature the immigrant experience? Do most New Yorkers—and Americans in general—share Lazarus’s high ideals? Kramer judges that the poem “wore its ambivalence about immigrants on its sleeve … but it also expressed the idea of the United States as a haven for outcasts in bold new ways, ways that would face repeated onslaughts in the coming decades.” The onslaughts have never stopped coming, and the poem’s mix of boldness and ambivalence remains a challenge in every sense.

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Millions of tourists glance at “The New Colossus” each year, but few critics give it a close reading. The commentator Max Cavitch laments that it’s “almost universally underread.” We know what it represents as a cultural touchstone, but what does it say as a poem?

Lazarus begins her sonnet with an unusual device that we might call an inverse simile . She tells us what her subject is “not like”: the imperious and male Greek Colossus, which stood at the harbor of the island of Rhodes in the 3rd century BCE (legend says it straddled the harbor, a technical impossibility). It is against this famous forerunner that the poet defines Lady Liberty:

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.

The word “brazen” here does double duty; it means both made of brass (the Colossus of Rhodes was bronze-plated) and brash or arrogant , as conquerors tend to be. Lady Liberty, though equally “mighty,” is welcoming and protective by contrast. Hers is a proud maternal strength, which nevertheless seems to harness the power of the patriarchs; “the imprisoned lightning” of her electric torch recalls Zeus’s thunderbolt. The subsequent lines underscore this duality:

From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

She is a “beacon” of hospitality; she turns a “mild” face to the world and its exiles; yet she also commands . (Notice how “command” gains force from its position at the end of the line.) The “twin cities” she presides over are New York and Brooklyn, which would not formally merge until 1898. Her domain is the entrance to what was already, by 1883, America’s largest metropolis, but her role is to greet, not guard.

As is conventional in the sonnet, the rhetoric takes a “turn” in line 9. The closing sestet announces Liberty’s message to the Old World:

“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!”

This is the part that even schoolchildren and politicians know—more or less. We remember the outpouring of compassion but tend to forget that it’s prefaced by a note of New York defiance. Your refugees are welcome here , Liberty says in effect, but not your stuck-up elite.

The “ancient lands” line is a democratic laugh in the face of European monarchy. Unfortunately, its tinge of gloating American exceptionalism may be the poem’s most dated aspect. In our era of hyperpartisanship, severe inequality, and dismal congressional approval ratings, Americans increasingly resent the pomp of their own rulers; some look to Europe for models of functional democracy. Meanwhile, Liberty’s outreach to “the homeless” is an uncomfortable reminder of the many “tired” and “poor” the country fails to shelter, whether they are born here or elsewhere. Then, too, many Americans are descended from—or, in Lazarus’s time, had themselves been—captives shipped across the Atlantic into slavery, without regard for their “yearning to breathe free.” Liberty omits this part of the story.

Kramer’s Slate essay, after tracing various betrayals of the Statue’s ideals throughout American history, concludes that “Visions of a generous United States … have beaten back formidable exclusionary forces in the past, and may yet again.” Lazarus would presumably share that hope. Yet the “golden door” is still, as it was in her own Gilded Age, more aspiration than actuality.

We are used to discussing “The New Colossus” as social studies, not literature. But classic poetry never arises in a literary vacuum, or survives in one. Beyond the confines of its plaque, Lazarus’s poem participates in a rich dialogue with earlier and later texts.

Max Cavitch, for example, finds a model for Liberty’s “lamp” in Daniel Deronda , in which the proto-Zionist character Mordecai proclaims: “[W]hat is needed is the seed of fire. The heritage of Israel is beating in the pulses of millions …. Let the torch of visible community be lit!” There is good reason to believe this passage struck a chord with Lazarus, who had been profoundly moved by the novel and who was, as Schor notes, “the first well-known American publicly to make the case for a Jewish state.” Yet if Lazarus borrowed this symbol from Eliot, she also Americanized and extended it, recasting “the torch” as a beacon for all communities.

What about the influence of other poems? “The New Colossus” may owe a debt to the ecstatic pluralism of Walt Whitman ’s “ Crossing Brooklyn Ferry ,” also set in the waters around New York City. An even likelier reference point is that other famous 19th-century sonnet about a statue: Percy Bysshe Shelley ’s “ Ozymandias ” (1818). Shelley’s depiction of a shattered monument to a boastful tyrant (“Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”) mocks the hubris and transience of power. It is a cautionary tale about how glorious civilizations fall. Though the allusion is never explicit, it’s tempting to contrast Lady Liberty’s mild-eyed “command” with Ozymandias’s “sneer of cold command”; her democratic compassion with his autocratic cruelty; her message of hope with his call to “despair”; her triumphant wholeness with his brokenness.

“The New Colossus” echoes in modern poetry, too—and not only the political poetry for which it serves as explicit foundation. Sylvia Plath ’s “ The Colossus ,” for example, also weaves a modern myth that alludes to the Colossus of Rhodes. Its ruined patriarchal statue littering an unvisited shore contrasts sharply—perhaps deliberately—with the “Mother of Exiles” greeting ships. Hart Crane ’s The Bridge (1930), with its alternately ecstatic and despairing vision of America, at times seems visited by Lazarus’s ghost as well. In one section of Crane’s book, a drunken sailor lurches home “while the dawn / was putting the Statue of Liberty out”: a bleak moment whose irony depends for its effect on Lazarus’s optimism.

Without a doubt, however, “The New Colossus” has held its greatest sway beyond the page. In a way most poems do not, it exists near the border where the ungoverned waters of literature meet the strict land of law. Far out in those waters, language explores what is not literally the case; closer to land, it asserts what could or should be the case; crossing onto solid ground, it declares what shall be the case. “The New Colossus,” just shy of the shoreline, can never become law—can never actually require the U.S. to open its arms to strangers. It can only haunt us with the conviction that we should. Well into its second century, Lazarus’s masterpiece still commands the American imagination, offering a pledge that remains fulfillable but unfulfilled, impossible to enforce and impossible to repeal.

Austin Allen is the author of Pleasures of the Game (Waywiser Press, 2016), winner of the Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize. He has taught creative writing at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Cincinnati.