For this program, the law calls for an image of the Statue of Liberty to stand for the idea of liberty. People all over the world know the Statue of Liberty as a symbol of liberty and freedom in the United States. In 1886, President Grover Cleveland accepted the Statue of Liberty from France and said, "We will not forget that Liberty has here made her home."
France gave the Statue of Liberty to the United States 110 years after the United States declared its independence from Great Britain. The statue symbolizes the friendship that grew between America and France during the American Revolutionary War.
Here are more interesting facts about this treasure:
- The 151-foot-tall monument was sculpted by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. The sculptor had help from the designer of the Eiffel Tower, Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, in figuring out how to hold up such a huge structure.
- Finished in 1884, the statue was taken apart and shipped in 350 pieces to New York. Reassembling her took four months.
- The tablet she holds in her left hand carries the inscription "July IV MDCCLXXVI," the date in Roman numerals (July 4, 1776) when the Declaration of Independence was signed.
- The seven spikes of her crown are rays that symbolize both the light of the sun and the seven seas and continents of the world.
- To celebrate her 100th anniversary, the Statue of Liberty was the subject of a US commemorative coin in 1986. In 1997, she appeared on the new American Eagle platinum coins.
For more on the Statue of Liberty, visit France with the Coins of the World cartoon.
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