France presented the Statue of Liberty to the United States. The monument was a gift commemorating the alliance between the two countries during the American Revolution and celebrating shared ideals of liberty.
French political thinker Édouard René de Laboulaye proposed the idea, and sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi designed the statue. Gustave Eiffel, whose company later built the Eiffel Tower, helped engineer its internal iron framework.
France funded and built the statue, while Americans raised money for its pedestal. The completed monument was dedicated in New York Harbor on October 28, 1886. Its copper skin was originally reddish brown and gradually developed the familiar green patina.
The statue depicts Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom. Her tablet bears July 4, 1776, written in Roman numerals. The monument’s popular association with immigration grew especially strong because it stood near the main entry route to New York.