today we're looking at the statue of liberty
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give me your tired your poor your huddled masses yearning to breathe free is the famous quote from
author and poet emma lazarus which is on the engraving inside the pedestal that the statue
of liberty sets upon this quote although not added to the monument until the early 1900s
has come to be the embodiment of what the 305 foot statue has come to symbolize sitting on
liberty island in the harbor of new york city the statue is one of the first things that greeted
millions of immigrants that came through ellis island on their way to a new life in america
the statue of liberty traces its origin to french writer and strong abolitionist eduard
devaway it is believed that as the american civil war was coming to an end in 1865 devilway
conceived the idea as a celebration for america's centennial or 100th birthday coming up in 1876.
the statue would celebrate america's freedom and democracy and honor the alliance between
france and america during the american revolution devoid soon conveyed his idea to french sculptor
frederick auguste bartoli who then came up with the design for a massive statue
in 1871 bartoli came to america and was excited to find that bedlow's island in new york harbor
was government property and could be a possible location for the statue bartholi traveled across
the united states meeting with prominent leaders to discuss the project and even met with president
ulysses s grant for the next few years bartoli and devilway continued to campaign for the project
raising money in france to build the statue eventually the united states and france agreed
that if france built the statue the united states would build and pay for the pedestal
that it would sit upon on march 3 1877 president grant's final full day in office he signed a
resolution to accept the statue from the french when it was completed and then the next day new
president rutherford b hayes designated bedlow's island which would be renamed liberty island
as the site for the statue to raise excitement and to help with raising funds for the project
pieces of the statue were completed and put on display before the full statue was done the right
hand holding the torch was on display at the 1876 centennial exposition in philadelphia celebrating
the 100th birthday of the united states and in paris the head was put on display at the
1878 world's fair soon structural engineer gustav eiffel the famous engineer of the eiffel tower
began to work on the project to help devise an internal structure to hold up the massive statue
the statue was sculpted and built in sections in france out of copper that would then be attached
to a steel frame that supported it on june 17th 1885 the statue of liberty arrived in new york
harbor packed in crates ready to be unpacked and constructed only problem was the pedestal was not
completed yet a few months later in august of 1885 it was announced that the 102 000 needed to build
the pedestal had been raised and the pedestal was completed the following year in april of 1886.
construction of the statue now began and the statue officially called the statue of liberty
and lightning the world would be completed and dedicated on october 28 1886 by president grover
cleveland the entire monument stands 305 feet tall with a pedestal standing 154 feet
and the statue itself 151 feet originally when the statue was first constructed the copper statue was
a shiny reddish brown color but due to the reaction between copper and water over the years
it has now turned to a bluish green color the statue is of course of a woman in a robe which in
classical art liberty was usually represented by a female the torch and the statues raised right hand
represents enlightening the world with liberty and was originally made of glass that actually had a
light inside it in fact the statue also served as a lighthouse to ships entering the harbor but
the original flame was replaced in 1986 with a flame covered in 24 karat gold that reflects the
sun the tablet held in the statue's left hand has july 4th 1776 written in roman numerals
to commemorate american independence the seven points on the statue's crown are to represent
the seven continents of the world the statue faces to the southeast which is the direction most ships
enter new york harbor the monument has become the emblem of the nation recognized worldwide as the
embodiment of american freedoms for over a hundred years the statue of liberty has stood as a symbol
to the world of the liberty and freedoms offered in the united states of america
so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching