[Alchemy]

This is why I do not take anything wikipedia documents seriously. According to wikipedia, the symbolism behind the statue of liberty is:

Symbolism
The broken shackles lying at Lady Liberty's feet signify liberation from oppression and tyranny. [2] The USIA states that the seven spikes in the crown represent the seven seas and seven continents.[3] As the statue's name indicates, the torch signifies enlightenment. The tablet in her hand shows the date of the nation's birth (July 4, 1776).

Since 1903, the statue has been associated with Emma Lazarus's poem "The New Colossus" and has acquired a new meaning as a symbol of welcome to immigrants

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty

NOTHING could be further from the truth! The statue of liberty was designed as a monument for the abolition of slavery in America. Anti slavery speeches were made at the opening ceremony. Broken shackles resting at her feet signify this. The fact that people see her as a symbol to welcome immigrants is rather sad.

[Falx]

Really? I remember it being sent from the French for liberation or some such.

[Alchemy]

Really? I remember it being sent from the French for liberation or some such.

Define liberation? Do you see it as america receiving its independance or the abolition of slavery?

[The Immortal Goon]

I don't know too much about it, but it seems odd that the French would give a gift to the abolition of slavery over the kind of friendships of Republics, especially since at the time they were the only two republics and everyone was kind of positioning themselves for alliances.

I don't deny that it's possible that it was for slavery, or that there were slavery related speeches there - it would have been a reasonable issue to be bringing up at the time. 1886 was also when Spain ended slavery, so that may have kind of tied in with a general gift for "general liberty" as France and the US defined it, as far as the speeches and such go.

-TIG

[Alchemy]

I don't know too much about it, but it seems odd that the French would give a gift to the abolition of slavery over the kind of friendships of Republics, especially since at the time they were the only two republics and everyone was kind of positioning themselves for alliances.

I don't deny that it's possible that it was for slavery, or that there were slavery related speeches there - it would have been a reasonable issue to be bringing up at the time. 1886 was also when Spain ended slavery, so that may have kind of tied in with a general gift for "general liberty" as France and the US defined it, as far as the speeches and such go.

Below is a picture of "lady liberty" and a negro soldier with an amputated foot. It is a 1865 print by Thomas Nast. When was the statue of liberty built?



Striking resemblance dont you agree. Take note that the url I have provided and where i got the picture from makes no reference to the statue of liberty.

http://www.sonofthesouth.net/slavery_pictures.htm

[Thunderhawk]

The face is a little hard to make out in that picture.

As for theclothes, style of that clothing and hair.. that combination isnt exactly unique.

[Chloe]

How about this.
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/pics/slaves/h1865p489.jpg

**Edit** its just an enlargement of the picture from the link provided by Alchemy.

[Thunderhawk]

The face is not look the same. Both are stern, but not the same same, IMO.

[Chloe]

But the faces are not the defining factor. Lady Liberty is. At least that is my understanding of what Alchemy is trying to say. Would this be correct?

[Batko]

NOTHING could be further from the truth! The statue of liberty was designed as a monument for the abolition of slavery in America.

This is absolutely wrong.
The idea of the designer Bartholdi was to celebrate the 100 years of US independance and a gift to materialize French/US friendship. Nothing else.

[Clausewitz]

That [2] in the OP's Wikipedia quote is a citation for the statement, which a google search also confirms.

[PBVBROOK]

Batko is right. The gift was to commerate the centenial. It was 10 years late.

Here is what the official web site says:

The people of France gave the Statue to the people of the United States over one hundred years ago in recognition of the friendship established during the American Revolution. Over the years, the Statue of Liberty has grown to include freedom and democracy as well as this international friendship.

Sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi was commissioned to design a sculpture with the year 1876 in mind for completion, to commemorate the centennial of the American Declaration of Independence. The Statue was a joint effort between America and France and it was agreed upon that the American people were to build the pedestal, and the French people were responsible for the Statue and its assembly here in the United States. However, lack of funds was a problem on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. In France, public fees, various forms of entertainment, and a lottery were among the methods used to raise funds.

Here is all you need to know about this subject:

http://www.snopes.com/history/american/liberty.htm

[getfiscal]

Also, the comment about it being associated with immigration is correct.

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Millions of people that migrated to the US have passed by the Statue of Liberty and that experience is closely associated with the monument.

[Looter]

It all got to do with the FreeMasons, Its a statue of Apollo, the Sun God. Its plain as day but you need to be an enlightened one to appreciate it.

[kami321]

Who cares for the statue.
The US liberty has been undone by the communists a long time ago.

[getfiscal]

I saw the again statue last year. I did not see it buckling under the weight of a giant bloody hammer and sickle. That would have been far more exciting.

[Alchemy]

This is absolutely wrong.
The idea of the designer Bartholdi was to celebrate the 100 years of US independance and a gift to materialize French/US friendship. Nothing else.

Oh okay, care to explain this then.

Is the Statue of Liberty a monument to the end of slavery in the United States?

The Statue of Liberty would never have been conceived or built if its principal French and American advocates had not been active abolitionists who understood slavery as the cause of the Civil War and its end as the realization of the promise of liberty for all as codified in the Declaration of Independence. But the Statue of Liberty was not intended entirely as a monument to the end of slavery. The statue’s form after June 1871 clearly embodies Laboulaye’s views on the two-part realization, in 1776 and 1864, of his ideal of liberty. The centennial of the American Revolution was significant to the French sponsors because the Civil War ended slavery and preserved the Union at a time when the France’s future was still uncertain. For the American republicans, it was a timely opportunity to erect a monument to their efforts and worldview. Laboulaye and his French colleagues also wished to send a political message back to France. Bartholdi cast the project in the broadest terms, hoping to encourage additional commissions.

http://www.nps.gov/stli/historyculture/ ... iberty.htm
You were saying?

[PBVBROOK]

Revisionist bullshit. You see this in USG sites all of the time.

Read the French sources. You will find the truth there. Not the rambings of some pandering bureaucrat.

[Alchemy]

Revisionist bullshit. You see this in USG sites all of the time.

Read the French sources. You will find the truth there. Not the rambings of some pandering bureaucrat.

Priceless. You hold Wikipedia in higher asteem than your governmental departments. Not only that you clearly have not taken the time to read the summary at the top of the article.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In early 1998, the Statue of Liberty National Monument staff began receiving inquiries about rumors that the Statue of Liberty was originally meant to be a monument to the end of slavery in America at the end of the Civil War. In response, the Monument's Superintendent launched an intensive, two-year investigation of the rumors and the truth about the statue's early history. The research reported here is based on investigations conducted on the internet, through personal interviews and in public and private library and archival collections in the U.S. and France.

[Batko]

The broken shackles lying at Lady Liberty's feet signify liberation from oppression and tyranny.

This is correct and you can include slavery in the terms "oppression and tyranny".
So, yes, end of slavery is included in the symbolism of the statue.

This does not mean that :

The statue of liberty was designed as a monument for the abolition of slavery in America.

This assertion is dead wrong for the reasons I stated above.