Why Did They Build the Statue of Liberty?
The Statue of Liberty was a gift from France to the United States. The French scholar Edouard Rene Lefebvre de Laboulaye remarked at a dinner party that France should give a monument to the U.S. to celebrate the idea of independence.
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Artist
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One of Laboulaye's dinner guests was the sculptor Frederic Bartholdi. He was enthralled with the idea and oversaw the creation of the statue.
Context
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The idea was first hatched in 1865. At the time France was in the middle of great political upheaval. In the U.S., the Civil War had just ended and slavery was abolished.
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Funding
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People from France and the U.S. contributed funds to help pay for the statue. France paid for the statue, while the U.S. paid for the pedestal.
Time Frame
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The actual construction of the statue did not begin until 1875. It was completed in 1884 and unveiled in the U.S. in 1885.
History
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The origin of the statue can plausibly be traced back to the friendship that the two nations forged during the American Revolutionary War. U.S. independence from Britain would likely have been impossible without help from France.
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