Which French gift became a symbol of the United States in New York Harbor?

The Statue of Liberty was the French gift that became a symbol of the United States in New York Harbor.

France presented the statue to the United States to commemorate the centennial of American independence and to celebrate the countries’ republican ideals. Sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi designed the figure, while Gustave Eiffel helped engineer its internal iron framework.

The statue was dedicated on October 28, 1886, in New York Harbor. Its official name is Liberty Enlightening the World. The figure holds a torch in her raised right hand and a tablet in her left hand bearing the date July 4, 1776, written in Roman numerals.

The statue arrived in crates after being shipped across the Atlantic and was assembled on Bedloe’s Island, later renamed Liberty Island. It is sometimes mistaken for a monument built entirely by France, but the pedestal was funded in the United States, largely through a public campaign led by Joseph Pulitzer’s newspaper.