Invitation to the Inauguration of the Statue of Liberty by the President

Photograph

By: Anonymous

Date: October 28, 1886

Source: The White House. "Invitation to the Inauguration of the Statue of Liberty by the President." William Maxwell Evarts Papers, Library of Congress.

About the Photographer: The White House, as the official home of the current President of the United States, is responsible for issuing invitations to official state functions on his behalf. William Maxwell Evarts (1818–1901) was the U.S. Secretary of State from 1876 to 1880 and a U.S. Senator from New York from 1885 to 1891. His voluminous correspondence and other papers are held in the Manuscript and Prints and Photographs Divisions of the Library of Congress.

INTRODUCTION

The Statue of Liberty was officially inaugurated on October 28, 1886. A gift to the United States from the people of France, the statue commemorates the relationship between the two nations that began during the American Revolution, and honors the countries' shared commitment to liberty and democracy. Designed by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, the statue was intended to be completed in time for the centennial celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, however financial difficulties slowed the process, both in France where the statue was to be built, and in America, where money needed to be raised to build the pedestal for the completed statue. Ultimately, the statue was completed in France in 1884, and the pedestal in New York in April 1886, allowing for the inauguration that October, with President Grover Cleveland presiding.

PRIMARY SOURCE

INVITATION TO THE INAUGURATION OF THE STATUE OF LIBERTY BY THE PRESIDENT

See primary source image.

SIGNIFICANCE

The Statue of Liberty, or Lady Liberty, was officially named "Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World." She holds a torch in one hand over her head, and in her other arm a tablet with July 4, 1776 inscribed in Roman numerals to mark the date that the Declaration of Independence was signed. Her crown has seven spikes, to represent the seven continents and the seven seas, and the chains beneath one of her feet are meant to represent newly acquired freedom. Not including the pedestal, the statue stands 151 feet high to the top of the torch, and weighs more than 150 tons. The pedestal adds an additional 154 feet and 27,000 tons to the monument. While the statue was designed by Bartholdi, the internal steel skeleton was engineered by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, the man responsible for the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It consists of thin copper plates attached to wooden forms, which were then attached to the metal frame. For the trip to the United States, the statue was divided into three hundred-fifty pieces and shipped in more than two hundred crates, then reassembled on the pedestal. The statue sits on what was once Bedloe's Island, until the nickname "Liberty Island" became so popular that it was made official in 1956. Visitors may visit a museum about the statue's history within the pedestal, and climb a spiral staircase inside the statue to an observation deck in the crown.

Although the Statue of Liberty eventually became a popular New York tourist destination, its origins are rooted in the beliefs of the nation: democracy, freedom, and opportunity. These beliefs were the reason so many immigrants risked long journeys by boat to come to the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the Statue of Liberty became the ultimate symbol of freedom to those immigrants when they first arrived in New York's harbor. The inauguration speeches held in 1886 made no mention of immigration in relation to the statue, but they did focus on the idea of liberty, which was the foundation of the Declaration of Independence in the United States, and of the French Revolution, as well. However, Emma Lazarus, who wrote the poem "The New Colossus" that appears on a bronze plaque on the interior of the statue, recognized that the placement of the monument would be symbolic for immigrants. Her poem calls out to the world to send their poor and homeless, the struggling masses, promising that America will give them the chance to start a new life. The statue might have been intended as a representation of the friendship between France and America, but Lady Liberty provided a beacon and a welcome to every ship entering the New York harbor, and for an immigrant, would have been their first glimpse of the new country they planned to make their home.

As air travel became more popular and immigration patterns shifted so that people were migrating from other parts of the world, the Statue of Liberty ceased to be the first indication that an immigrant had reached America. However, the statue itself remains iconic around the world, representing the freedom and democracy America promises its citizens, and the opportunities that Americans have to change their situation in life. Immigrants continue to consider the statue as a symbol of all the things they came to the United States to achieve and attain, and citizens consider it representative of the democratic principles on which the nation was founded. When accepting the statue from France on behalf of all Americans, President Grover Cleveland promised that the United States would continue to be the home of liberty. That concept was echoed and elaborated upon in 1986 during the centennial celebration of the statue, when President Ronald Reagan reminded his audience that Lady Liberty, coming as she did from France, was an immigrant herself.

FURTHER RESOURCES

Books

Merriman, Eve. Emma Lazarus Rediscovered. New York: Biblio Press, 1999.

Provoyeur, Paul, and June Ellen Hargrove, eds. Liberty: Th French-American Statue in Art and History. New York: Perennial Library, 1986.

Weinbaum, Paul Owen. Statue of Liberty: The Story Behind the Scenery. Las Vegas: K.C. Publishing, 1988.

Web sites

Great Buildings.com. "The Statue of Liberty." 2006 〈http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Statue_of_Liberty.html〉 (accessed June 24, 2006).

Library of Congress. "A Century of Immigration: 1820–1934." September 7, 2005 〈http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/haventohome/haven-century.html〉 (accessed June 24, 2006).

Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. "Statue History." 〈http://www.statueofliberty.org/Statue_History.html〉 (accessed June 24, 2006).

University of Texas: Reagan Archive. "Remarks at the Opening Ceremonies of the Statue of Liberty Centennial Celebration in New York, New York" July 3, 1986 〈http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1986/70386d.htm〉 (accessed June 24, 2006).