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<p align="center">“Listen. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Thomas Jefferson.</p>
Liberty, what is Liberty? It is not a statue. Although that is what we picture when we say liberty. By definition, liberty is the state or condition of people who are able to act and speak freely. It is not a statue. The Statue is only a symbol. The statue is only copper, granite, steel, and iron. The statue speaks to us; what it makes us feel inside is what makes it so significant. Liberty is what we as Americans always wanted. It was what the country was founded on and what the Revolution was fought for. Therefore the Statue of Liberty should be preserved for individual reasons and beliefs, as well as the creative and artistic intellect of Frederic Augusta Bartholdi along with the architectural brilliance of Alexander Gustave Eiffel.

In 1861 the northern and southern United States had tensions over issues of state rights versus federal authority, westward expansion and how slavery blew up in the American Civil War (1861-1865). When Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860, he was known as the anti-slavery president that caused seven southern states to break away from the Union to form the Confederate States of America. Later four more joined them after the first shots of the Civil War were fired. Four years of vicious conflict of historic battles such as Bull Run (Manassas), Gettysburg and Vicksburg to just to name a few, the Civil War position neighbor against neighbor. The Confederate States surrender in 1865 with the Civil War being established as the most tragic war ever fought on American soil.  620,000 of 2.4 million soldiers were killed, millions more injured, and the population and territory of the South was devastated. Around the same time cross the ocean a French political intellectual and authority on the U.S. Constitution by the name Eduardo Laboulaye held a dinner party and proposed an idea to give a monument representing liberty to the U.S. independence by the centennial year. (1876) A sculptor by the name of Frederic Augusta Bartholdi was at the party and was very intrigued by the proposal of Laboulaye, he enthusiastically supports his proposed statue and becomes the sculptor. In 1867 Bartholdi proposed a huge statue of an Egyptian robed women holding a torch for the opening of the Suez Canal with a meaning of “Egypt bringing the light to Asia” Bartholdi said. However; Egypt denied his offer, nevertheless Bartholdi stayed undiscouraged and kept his drawings. In 1871 Laboulaye urged Bartholdi to take a trip to the United States to promote the statue. As he sails through the New York harbor he saw Bedloe’s Island and said to himself this is where I should erect my statue. This is what people should see when they view the new world. In 1872 Bartholdi returns to France to report interest in the statue and declares the ideal spot for Liberty.

The Statue of Liberty creators strongly felt that the project should be a joint effort, as the French would agree to fund the statue if the American’s fund the pedestal. The Franco-American Union committee approves Bartholdi’s plaster model of “Liberty enlightening the world “in 1875 and fundraised 600,000 Francs that Bartholdi claimed he would need.  Laboulaye presented a formal request to the President Ulysses S. Grant. The statue’s life began in Paris, France and the Statue's hand holding the torch was completed in 1876 and sent to Philadelphia on May 18<sup>th</sup> to be displayed at the Centennial Exposition. Then in 1877 the Statue's hand and torch was moved and displayed at Madison Square in New York City where it remained until 1882.

February 22, 1876 the U.S. Congress accepted the Statue of Liberty as a gift from the people of France. One week later on March 3<sup>rd</sup> 1876 President Ulysses S. Grant signed a bill designating Bedloe's Island as the Statue's site. The United States began fundraising for the construction of the pedestal through the American Committee for the Statue of Liberty which raised $125,000 between 1877 and 1884.

When the arm and torch returned to Paris, Bartholdi was struck with a dilemma. Bartholdi was unsure on how a structure so big would be put together and transported across an ocean and kept stable on its pedestal. That is when Bartholdi enlisted in the help of Alexander Gustave Eiffel. Eiffel was well recognized for his bold bridges in France and later would go on to create the most famous tower in the world. (Eiffel Tower) Over the course of a year, Eiffel devised framework that would be sturdy but elastic and not only carry the 80-ton copper skin, but also be protected from all the elements such as heat and cold. Eiffel began to build his master piece in the courtyard of Gaget and Gauthier. The base was a sturdy pylon assembled of crossed-braced iron post that stands 96 feet high. This supported the framework of light beams and the most resourceful of all, was the hundreds of short, thin iron bars fitted to the framework. This in turn would attach directly to the inside of the copper skin. They would act like spring and allow the statue to sway, swing, contract, and breath.

Years later Alexander Gustave Eiffel put his thumb print in history architect when he designed the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 Exposition Universelle to celebrate the 100th year anniversary of the French Revolution. The tower stands at 1,063 ft tall surpassing the Statue of Liberty by an easy 758 ft. On March 30, 1885 Eiffel presented his project to the Société des Ingiénieurs Civils. The discussions was of technical problems and emphasizing the practical uses of the tower, Eiffel concluded the discussion by stating that the tower would symbolize "not only the art of the modern engineer, but also the century of Industry and Science in which we are living, and for which the way was prepared by the great scientific movement of the eighteenth century and by the Revolution of 1789, to which this monument will be built as an expression of France's gratitude."  The tower was attracting criticism from those who did not believe that it was reasonable and also from those who objected on artistic grounds. Their objections were an expression of a longstanding debate about the relationship between architecture and engineering. At the time the tower was built, many people were stunned by its bold shape. Eiffel was criticized for the design and accused of trying to create something artistic, without regard to engineering. Eiffel and his engineers, however, as experienced bridge builders, understood the importance of wind forces and knew that if they were going to build the tallest structure in the world they had to be certain it would withstand the wind.

On July 4, 1884 Liberty was formally handed over to the Minister of the United States Levi P. Morton. Workers dismantled the statue and load it into 210 crates, 36 of them were just for nuts, bolts, and rivets and the statue was placed on a warship named Lsere to set sail on May 21, 1885. Half way through the trip a storm hit and for 72 hours Lsere struggled to stay up right from all the heavy cargo aboard. When Lsere reached New York it was greeted by nearly 100 ships. However; no one knew if the statue would ever be reassembled. The United States was unable to fund the work on the pedestal and work had to stop. After a year of fundraising and working on the pedestal, workman began prying open the crates in the spring of 1886, which had been sitting on Bedloe’s Island for a year. In just three months the Statue of Liberty stood tall again at an astonishing 305 feet and 1 inch from the ground up. Finally 21 years after the dinner at Laboulaye, just 15 years before Bartholdi first sailed to New York, 10 years after American centennial celebration for which the statue was originally intended for, just a mere 3 days before the official unavailing. Bartholdi inspected his finished work and said “I believe that it will last until eternity”.

In 1982, the statue was in substantial need of restoration. The right arm had been improperly attached to the main structure. When strong winds blew it would sway and there was cause for significant risk of structural failure. The head had been installed two feet off center, along with the right arm wearing a hole, this could be seen when the statue moved in the wind. The structure was so corroded that about two percent of the exterior plates needed to be replaced. Although problems with the framework had been recognized in 1936 when they replaced some of the cast iron bars, much of the corrosion had been hidden by the multiple layers of paint applied over the years. The torch was leaking water since the 1916 alterations were the torch was replaced with an exact replica of Bartholdi's unaltered torch. In 1984 the statue was closed to the public for the duration of the renovation. The entire skeleton designed by Alexander Gustave Eiffel was replaced with low-carbon corrosion-resistant stainless steel bars, which now hold the staples next to the skin that which are made of Ferralium. This is an alloy that bends slightly and returns to its original shape as the statue moves. The statue reopened on July 3-6, 1986 which was designated “Liberty Weekend” and marked the centennial. When President Reagan presided over the rededication, with French President Francois Mitterrand in attendance, Regan said in his speech “We are the keepers of the flame of liberty; we hold it high for the world to see.".

The Statue of Liberty isn’t a warrior, she isn’t overbearing, domineering or threatening, and she isn’t a symbol of power. The Statue of Liberty is a symbol of freedom. As we are all the beneficiary of those who have come before us, who have worked, fought, cared vastly to the very depth of their soul and paid the ultimate sacrifice to achieve liberty.
<p align="center">“Give me your tired, your poor,</p>
<p align="center">Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,</p>
<p align="center">The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.</p>
<p align="center">Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.“</p>
<p align="center">Quote on the Statue of Liberty.</p>
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Cited

"The Statue of Liberty? A Film by Ken Burns." Films On Demand. Films Media Group, 1985. Web. 23 Oct. 2013. &lt;http://digital.films.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?aid=17517&amp;xtid=44164&gt;.

<a href="http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/statueofliberty/timeline/">http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/statueofliberty/timeline/</a>

<a href="http://www.nps.gov/stli/historyculture/liberty-island-a-chronology.htm">http://www.nps.gov/stli/historyculture/liberty-island-a-chronology.htm</a>

<a href="http://www.zyra.org.uk/liberty1.htm">http://www.zyra.org.uk/liberty1.htm</a>

<a href="http://www.tour-eiffel.fr/en/everything-about-the-tower/the-major-events.html">http://www.tour-eiffel.fr/en/everything-about-the-tower/the-major-events.html</a>

<a href="http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war">http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war</a>