Hey everyone! Justin here, thank you so much for joining me today! You know, I was just hanging
out with my little nephew. He's adorable! He's like 2, 2.5 years old. It was great! But got to a
point where he was driving me nuts because he kept going, you know, just like "oh give me the cookie,
oh give me the truck, oh give me the milk, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme," oh, you know? So you
know what I did? I just stood up, looked at him directly in the eye, and I just said...
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched
refuse of your teeming shores. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp
beside the golden door!" And he just stared at me, in awe! And I looked at him and I said,
"dear nephew, that was a poem titled The New Colossus. And today, it is engraved
on a plaque on the Statue of Liberty. A statue known around the world as a symbol of freedom!"
So, I'm pretty sure a toddler has no way of understanding any of that,
but he you know he giggled, he giggled and, and he drooled a bit, and he went back to playing
with his truck, so I count that as a win! But, I'm sure you'll understand it. You and I
are gonna be learning about the Statue of Liberty today. Plus, I'll be telling you
some cool new things that you probably didn't know before. Let's get started, shall we?
[Transition Music plays]
Ah, yes, the Statue of Liberty. Many of you have heard of it,
read about it, seen pictures of it, or maybe even visited it in New York City.
So, what's the big deal? Didn't some guy just put a statue up in the middle of New York harbor?
Wrong! Get ready to learn some amazing facts about the Statue of Liberty as well as the
important history of the many people that came together to bring it to life. Several
presidents, and even school kids like you, had a part in the making of the Statue of Liberty.
But first, let's do a little quiz, just for fun. Which of these following statements is NOT
true? The statue of liberty has been: A. Damaged by a bomb B. Struck by lightning
C. A lighthouse used to guide ships or D. Painted a bluish green color
Did you make your guess yet? The answer is D. This is the only statement that's not true.
You'll learn why in a little bit. But first things first. The Statue of Liberty is a
national landmark in the northeast region of the United States. A landmark can be an object,
like a statue, or a building, or even a special area of land. It becomes a national landmark
when the United States government decides that it's important to America's history.
This proud statute, also known as Lady Liberty, has its beginnings in France. Now,
you may be asking yourself, "why does an American symbol of freedom have its beginnings in France?"
Well, it's because it was the idea of this man Édouard de Laboulaye. He loved the friendship
between his country of France and America. And he wanted to present a gift honoring that friendship.
He also wanted to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of America's
independence from Britain, and the end of slavery in the United States.
So then this guy, French artist Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, was hired to create the statue and
fulfill Laboulaye’s dream. Bartholdi began work on the statue in 1870- six years before America
would be celebrating its 100th birthday. Now that is some birthday gift! But there's a problem,
France didn't have enough money to design and create and ship this statue over.
They needed help. So, Bartholdi came to America and started talking with a bunch of people here,
including U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant. Alas, still no money. Zip. Zilch. Nada.
But, it wasn't all for nothing though. Bartholdi knew the perfect place to put the statue now. It
was a little island in New York harbor called Bedloe Island. Now, don't forget, people didn't
travel in planes back then. Bartholdi knew that anyone who was coming to America would be arriving
by boat, and would see this statue, this symbol of freedom, first thing as they entered the harbor.
Okay, back to the whole money problem. Everyone Bartholdi talked to in the U.S.
loved the idea, they just didn't want to cough up the funds. So, eventually, it was decided that
France would be the one to pay for the statue and America would be the one to pay for the pedestal.
See, the statutes got to stand on something. And it needs a foundation. So, that's this part right
here, on the bottom, the pedestal. In France, people began starting events and even a lottery to
help fundraise for the completion of the statute. And in the U.S., people started fundraising for
the pedestal. People put on auctions, plays, art shows, boxing matches, some school kids
even donated their birthday money, or their paper route money to help pay for the pedestal. But all
that was still slow goings. So, a newspaper owner by the name of Joseph Pulitzer, that's
this guy right here, put an ad in his paper asking for people to donate to the completion
of the pedestal. In return, he said that anyone who donated would have their name put in the
paper- and it worked! Now America has the money to buy the pedestal! Meanwhile, in France...
Construction has begun! Now, keep in mind, this is no ordinary statue. It was going to be a building
too. People would be able to walk inside and climb up it; and, it would also be outside,
exposed to the elements, strong winds, rain storms, hail, snow, blazing sun, tourists...but
I digress. Bartholdi decides to build the statue out of copper because it's lightweight
but also strong. We're talking very thin sheets of copper here, about the thickness of two pennies
stacked on top of each other. Bartholdi decides he needs some help with the structure of the statue
so that the statue doesn't, you know, just collapse on itself, and topple over, and be all
wobbly, and actually be a statue and all that. So, here's where another name comes in.
Alexander Gustav Eiffel. Have you ever heard of the Eiffel Tower in France? Well, this is the
same engineer who designed that building. Here you can see the iron framework of the Eiffel Tower.
This is a view of the Eiffel Tower looking up and inside it. This is kind of what the
skeleton structure of the Statue of Liberty is like and then the copper is just over that.
Over 300 sheets of copper were used in the construction of the Statue of Liberty.
They were all individually labeled so that workers could put them together
like a giant puzzle and made sure they were in the right place on the framework.
You know, pennies are copper too. But they're, you know, like a copper color. So why is the Statue
of Liberty this bluish-green? We know from the quiz earlier that it was not painted that way.
Well, the truth is, when the Statue of Liberty was first built, it was this bright shiny copper
color. But over time, the air, and the wind, and the salt water from the ocean
stained it that blue-green color we have today. Pennies will eventually change into
that blue-green color too. That's just what copper does. It's a process called oxidation.
Now, let's take a look at some of the symbolism in the statute itself. First things first,
the Statue of Liberty is over 150 feet tall. That's the size of a 12-story building. But
if you count the foundation starting from the ground and going up to the tippy top of the torch,
then it's the size of a 22-story building! The torch the Statue of Liberty is holding represents
lighting a path towards freedom. Those seven spikes on her crown are not part of a crown.
The spikes are supposed to be a radiating halo; and the fact that there are seven of
them represents the seven continents and the seven seas. If you look closely at the crown,
you'll notice that there are windows in there. That's because visitors can climb up the statue,
stand in the crown, and look out those windows. There are 25 of them,
each representing a precious gem from around the world. If you look inside the book the Statue of
Liberty is holding, you'll see July 4th, 1776 written in Roman numerals. That of course is
the date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and America's birthday.
So, who is this Lady Liberty anyway? It's believed that she represents the Roman
goddess of freedom named Libertas. Statues of Roman goddesses were often draped in robes so
this Lady Liberty is dressed in long flowing ones.
And rumor has it, Bartholdi used his own mother as a model for the face. That's sweet.
There are broken chains at the statue's feet
symbolizing freedom. And some even say that it also represents the end of slavery in the U.S.
Speaking of feet, here's another little fun quiz for you. If Lady Liberty had to put on sneakers,
what size shoe would she have to wear? A. Size 10 1/2 B. Size 879 C. Size 50 or D. Size 128
If you guessed B, you'd be right! She would need to wear a size 879 shoe! Now I'd hate it
if she stepped on my foot! If you couldn't already tell by now, this statue is massive! You see that
pointer finger holding the book? That one finger is eight feet long! There are 325 steps inside the
statue leading up to its crown. That's, whew, I'm getting tired just thinking about climbing those!
So back to the story of the making of the statue. Unfortunately, the statue wasn't completed in
time for America's 100th birthday in 1876. But it was finally given an official name: liberty
Enlightening the World. Finally, the statue was completed in 1884, and that very same year,
another architect by the name of Richard Morris Hunt designed the granite pedestal for the statue
to sit on. See, the statue was massive! So it needed something strong enough to support it.
Well, I'd say the 24,000 tons of concrete used would be enough! At the time,
it was the largest amount of concrete ever used for just one statue!
Man, a lot of people went into the making of this thing, huh? I never realized that before.
Anyway, the statue and pedestal were to be put in New York harbor on an abandoned army base called
Fort Wood. Here, you can see it's in the shape of a star. But that leads to another problem...how
do you ship a 225-ton statue from France to the United States?
You deliver it in pieces! The part with the arm and the torch had already been sent to the U.S.
to help generate excitement for fundraising. The rest of it was broken into 350 different parts
and placed into over 200 crates. All the crates were loaded up at a ship in France
and it set sail for America. The ship was tossed and turned and nearly sank in violent
storms across the ocean. But eventually, in 1885, the statue arrived in New York harbor
where it kind of... sat there for... a while because the pedestal wasn't done yet. But finally,
on October 28th, 1886, the statue was completed! Crowds gathered from
all over to witness President Grover Cleveland dedicated the statue. A few years later in 1903,
a plaque with a poem written by Emma Lazarus was added to the pedestal. And now, even today,
the statue still remains in New York harbor. An important, magnificent, symbol of freedom.
The statue has been through some tough times since then though. During World War I, German spies set
off a bomb not too far from the statue and the torch had to be repaired. In fact, people used to
be able to climb up into the torch but no visitors have been allowed since that incident in 1916.
Weather has also worn the statue down and the statue and the pedestal both went in for some
well-earned repairs in the 1930s. About 30 years after that, Beloe Island got a new name:
Liberty Island. More repairs were done to the statue in the 1980s and the entire torch had
to be replaced. But you can still see the original in the Statue of Liberty Museum on Liberty Island.
And still, to this day, people come to America in search of freedom. And what's often the first
thing they see as their boat comes into U.S. waters? The Statue of Liberty! A symbol of
freedom! An important national landmark. Remember how I said that a plaque was added to the pedestal
in 1903? And that there was a poem on it. Well, the title of that poem is: The New Colossus. And
now that you know a little more about the story of the Statue of Liberty, let's hear that poem again.
"Give me your tired, your poor,
your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse on your teeming shore. Send these,
the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I hold my lamp beside the golden door!"
You know, there's even more cool stuff to learn about the Statue of Liberty. We just
didn't have time to fit it all in one video. It could be a good idea to look up some stuff
about the Statue of Liberty on your own, it's really interesting! So, I will see you all
next time! Thanks for stopping by! And in the meantime... remember to always be clever!