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In 1865, near Paris, France, the unlikely birth of the
Statue of Liberty was conceived by French intellectuals
during after dinner conversations in 1865. The
host of the dinner Édouard René Lefebvre de Laboulaye
proposed a monument to American Independence that
Frenchmen help achieve. One of the guest at the dinner
was a 31 year old sculptor, Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi. This monument would be a gift to the USA from the people
of France in recognition of the French-American alliance during the American Revolution.
The statue's original intent was to celebrate the end of
slavery saluting Lincoln and the emancipation of the
slaves. The liberation of blacks from slavery in 1865
was a monumental achievement, and required an equally
monumental symbol eclipsing the pyramids of Egypt.
In 1871, Bartholdi traveled to the U.S.A., under a
commission from by Edouard de Laboulaye to sculpt the goddess
Liberty. Bartholdi traveled the United States from coast
to coast, and spotted Bedloe's Island in the New York
Harbor, which would become the home for the statue.
Bartholdi the artist, dedicated the next 15 years of
his life raising money, and turning his idea into
reality. Luckily through his consuming passion, and
relentless spirit, he made a monumental achievement.
He supported himself with other jobs, while trying to
achieve his dream, such as the commission of the statue
of Lafayette for New York City.
 He worked tirelessly, but was occasionally
interrupted by his possessive widowed mother. Acquaintances
observed Bartholdi mother's face on the Statue of
Liberty, which he neither denied, nor confirmed.
However, a terra cotta bust of his mother, resembles an
early model of the Statue of Liberty.
Work on the copper statue was sporadic
because of the lack of funds. In 1876, when New York
Times complained about "wasting money on the bronze
female". Bartholdi proposed placing the statue in
Philadelphia. New Yorkers responded by forming a
committee to raise funds for the pedestal.
The fund continue to languished until
Joseph Pulitzer a Hungarian immigrant who had come to
America penniless, now a prominent publisher put the
statue's logo on his newspaper "New York
World". Appealing to the people, let's not wait for
the millionaires, and by publishing every donor's name
in 1885, raised $100,000 in 5 months.
Whenever their efforts flagged, other
communities, such as Boston, San Francisco, Milwaukee,
Glover, and Vermont offered her a home.
However, by 1880, 600,000 francs ( about $1.3 million in today's dollars) had been raised.
In 1884, the last of the copper sheets were assembled
over the frame. For four months the statue stared over
Paris rooftops. The hollow copper statue, built in France, was
finally finished in July, 1884.
It was then taken apart and placed into
200 crates consisting of 350 pieces on a French ship called the
"Isere". The ship arrived in New York on June
17, 1885. The statue was re-assembled in the USA and was completed on October 28, 1886.
As a symbol
The liberation of over 4 million people from slavery
in 1865 can be viewed as the second American social
transformation, since America's independence from
Britain. 
At the turn of the century the statue symbolized freedom for immigrants who passed through New York Harbor.
Today it is one of the most universal symbols of political freedom and democracy.
Bartholdi attempted to make this evident in the name he gave his
statue, "Liberty Enlightening the World," and in its design. The
statue's upraised arm held high the symbolic torch of freedom; at her
feet lay the broken chain of tyranny. On her left arm rested a tablet
inscribed with the date of the American Declaration of Independence,
reminding everyone of its bold proclamation about the "inalienable
rights" of all men to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
About Ellis Island
The Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island and the Ellis Island Immigration Museum on Ellis Island are located in Lower New York Harbor, slightly over one mile from Lower Manhattan. Between 1892 and 1954, approximately 12 million steerage and third-class steamship passengers, who entered the United States through the port of New York, were legally and medically inspected at Ellis Island.
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