The Ancestry of Liberty: The Origins of the Statue of Liberty

Billy McHenry

History 385

His 385

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The Statue of Liberty of Liberty has stood tall in New York Harbor since 1886 and has

served as one of the most used and important symbols of the United States. Before this time the

United States used other symbols of liberty in order to show that their country was free of

tyranny, some of which would later inspire and be incorporated into the Statue of Liberty. The

United States was not the first country to use symbols of liberty in order to show they were a free

country and throughout history one can see many different statues, symbols and objects that have

been used by various countries to show that their country was free. Many of these symbols did

not go ignored by the maker of the Statue of Liberty and like some of the American symbols

mentioned prior they are either included within the Statue of Liberty or helped to inspire its

creation. In this paper I will argue that the reason the Statue of Liberty represents the U.S. so

well is because like the citizens of the United States the Statue of Liberty’s ancestry has come

from all over the world and is the product of many people’s successful fight for liberty. The fact

that the Statue of Liberty’s origins are not just from England or France or from any other single

country but of many throughout much of human history is what makes the Statue of Liberty a

truly perfect symbol to epitomize the United States of America.

The idea to create a Statue of Liberty came from a French law professor named Edoudard

Rene de Laboulaye in 1865. Labouylaye was a liberal in France and at this time Napoleon the

III was the leader and did not appreciate criticism against his regime.1 Laboulaye believed that

by erecting a statue in the United States which would be called “Liberty Enlightening the World”

1 John Bodnar, “Monuments and Morals: The Nationalization of Civic Instruction,” In Donald Warren, Civic and Moral Learning in America, (New York: Macmillan, 2006), 212.

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the ideals of liberty would never be forgotten overseas and might serve as a reminder to France

that liberty was lacking.2 Frederic Auguste Bartholdi was a sculptor who picked up on this idea

by Laboulaye. Bartholdi was strongly inspired by Laboulaye’s idea but as a result of fearing

repercussions from Napoleon, Bartholdi focused on building a similiar statue at the entrance of

the Suez Canal.3 Instead of the Statue of Liberty enlightening the world from the United States

Bartholdi decided he would create a statue called “Egypt bringing light to Asia”.4 This figure

would be “holding a torch that he proposed as a lighthouse” which came from the “inspiration of

the Colossus of Rhodes.”5 This statue would also borrow the “rays of the Sun god Helios” which

the Colossus of Rhodes was based off of instead of the Phrygian cap, bonnet rouge or liberty cap

that was used in many figures and statues during the French and American Revolutions.6 The

impact of such French and American symbols like liberty caps would greatly influence what was

included in the Statue of Liberty, however many symbols would be altered by Bartholdi so they

would represent liberty not revolution. Yet Bartholdi would add some symbols of revolution that

were not so obvious to the public.

The Gallic cap or liberty cap was an idea brought back from antiquity first in the 13

colonies and it symbolically was associated with freedom from slavery in ancient times.7 The

roots of the liberty cap spread back to ancient Rome where in a common ceremony where certain

slaves were given their freedom they were also given this symbolic headgear of a worker and

over time they were associated with liberty since the hat represented a free person.8 It would be

2 Bodnar, Civic and Moral Learning in America, 212.3 Barbra A. Babcock, “Taking Liberties, Writing from the Margins and Doing it with a Difference,” The Journal of American Folklore 100, 390 (1987), 403.4 Babcock, “Taking Liberties, Writing from the Margins and Doing it with a Difference,” 303.5 Babcock, “Taking Liberties, Writing from the Margins and Doing it with a Difference,” 304.6 Babcock, “Taking Liberties, Writing from the Margins and Doing it with a Difference,” 304.7 Yvonne Korshak, “The Liberty Cap as a Revolutionary Symbol in France and America,” Smithsonian Studies in American Art 1, 2 (1987), 53.8 Korshak, “The Liberty Cap as a Revolutionary Symbol in France and America,” 53.

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Paul Revere who used his knowledge of this idea and included it in his opposition of the Stamp

act.9 Revere famously introduced liberty caps on such everyday objects like punch bowls and

other artifacts as early as 1766 and some of these objects were spread to such rebellious groups

like the Sons of Liberty.10 At the time many of the groups who used the liberty cap as a symbol

used it as a symbol of equal rights and representation in the colonies not of independence.11

Overtime and with the revolution in 1776 this would change and Liberty caps and other new

symbols of liberty would emerge and be heavily used as symbols of rebellion by the colonists.12

It was not until the 1820’s that liberty caps would begin to fall out of favor by people in the

United States.13 The reason for this sudden change in support for the liberty cap was because, as

noted prior, these liberty caps originally meant freedom from slavery in Rome and because

slavery was so prominent in the United States in the 1820’s Americans no longer wanted to be

associated with this symbol.14 Prior to this though the United States would influence the French

to have their own revolution and because of the United States’ influence the French borrowed the

liberty cap to use as their symbol of freedom. This symbol would later greatly inspire the

Frenchman Francis Bartholdi while he designed the Statue of Liberty.

In the summer of 1789 the earliest events of France’s revolution were occurring and to

lead the way in this revolution was the American liberty cap.15 An artist named Augustin Dupre

illustrated a picture of the goddess Libertas, which would later become the French symbol of

Marianne, with a liberty cap during the beginning of the French Revolution, from there it was a

9 Korshak, “The Liberty Cap as a Revolutionary Symbol in France and America,” 54.10 Korshak, “The Liberty Cap as a Revolutionary Symbol in France and America,” 54.11 Korshak, “The Liberty Cap as a Revolutionary Symbol in France and America,” 57.12 Korshak, “The Liberty Cap as a Revolutionary Symbol in France and America,” 57.13 Korshak, “The Liberty Cap as a Revolutionary Symbol in France and America,” 57.14 Korshak, “The Liberty Cap as a Revolutionary Symbol in France and America,” 53.15 Korshak, “The Liberty Cap as a Revolutionary Symbol in France and America,” 64.

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common feature of French art.16 One of the biggest reasons the liberty cap caught on in France

was because of how similar it looked to the hats of French working men at the time.17 As a

result, the majority of the revolutionaries who were French workingmen used the symbol of the

Liberty cap as a rallying point.18 These caps were included in illustrations upon the heads of

these people’s oppressors, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, to mock them and continue support

for revolution and ultimately liberty.19 Unlike the Americans who brought the liberty cap back

from antiquity and later abandoned it, the French would use it even after their revolution and it

would become the symbol of their newly formed republic around 1800.20 Even though the

symbol of the liberty cap would soon be associated with the republic had always been associated

with revolution, including to creator of the Statue of Liberty, Francis Bartholdi. Trying to avoid

controversy, Bartholdi would turn to one of the seven wonders of the ancient world for

inspiration for his new liberty cap that would be put on top of his statue’s head. The irony of this

situation is that the society who built this great statue was inspired to do so after they had also

revolted against a monarchy.

The Colossus of Rhodes is known as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

What is interesting is the reason the monument existed was for a very similar reason why we

today have the Statue of Liberty. In 305 B.C. the ruler of Macedonia, Demetrius I Poliorcetes,

decided that he would try to expand his empire like Alexander and start by taking over the Greek

island of Rhodes.21 The people of Rhodes however had been independent since 323 B.C. which

allowed them to do such things as control their own foreign policy and create their own laws so

16 Korshak, “The Liberty Cap as a Revolutionary Symbol in France and America,” 64.17 Korshak, “The Liberty Cap as a Revolutionary Symbol in France and America,” 66.18 Korshak, “The Liberty Cap as a Revolutionary Symbol in France and America,” 66.19 Korshak, “The Liberty Cap as a Revolutionary Symbol in France and America,” 66.20 Korshak, “The Liberty Cap as a Revolutionary Symbol in France and America,” 66.21 Lawrence Conrad, “The Arabs and the Colossus,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 6, 2 (1996), 165.

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they had no interest in once again being under the control of a monarch.22 In 304 B.C.

Poliorcetes had to withdraw from Rhodes because after a year he was still not making any

progress with conquering the island.23 The Macedonian army rushed off the island of Rhodes

soon after they heard the orders from Poliorcetes and as a result left much of their supplies

behind.24 The people of Rhodes were able to collect these supplies and later sell them. After

gaining a considerable amount of wealth from the Macedonian supplies the people of Rhodes

decided to use this new wealth to fund a great statue of their patron god Helios.25

The people of Rhodes hired a sculptor named Chares of Lindos to make this mighty

statue.26 After twelve years of work Chares was able to finish his statue known as the Colossus

of Rhodes and it soon became known as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.27 The

statue was made of bronze and stood an impressive 100 feet tall, one of the largest architectural

feats of its time.28 Unfortunately, after only standing for 60 years an earthquake hit the island of

Rhodes and destroyed the Colossus of Rhodes.29 The ruins of the statue lay in Rhodes for

approximately 900 years after the earthquake initially destroyed this former wonder of the

world.30 In 653 A.D. the Saracens conquered Rhodes and in order to make a profit broke the

ruins of the statue down and sold it to a Jewish merchant, as a result there is no artifacts left of

the Colossus of Rhodes.31 Although this is the case accurate drawings of the Colossus did

survive from antiquity and helped Bartholdi to keep the idea of the liberty cap incorporated into

22 Conrad, “The Arabs and the Colossus,” 165.23 Conrad, “The Arabs and the Colossus,” 165.24 Conrad, “The Arabs and the Colossus,” 165.25 Conrad, “The Arabs and the Colossus,” 165.26 Conrad, “The Arabs and the Colossus,” 165.27 Conrad, “The Arabs and the Colossus,” 165.28 Herbert Maryon, “The Colossus of Rhodes,” The Journal of Hellenic Studies 76, (1956), 68.29 Maryon, “The Colossus of Rhodes,” 68.30 Maryon, “The Colossus of Rhodes,”68.31 Maryon, “The Colossus of Rhodes,” 68.

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his design of the Statue of Liberty but also let him alter it to disassociate his statue from

controversy.

The origins of the Colossus of Rhodes are very similar to that of the Statue of Liberty.

Like the birth of the United States, Rhodes fought for their sovereignty and later put up a

monumental statue as a symbol of their liberty. This was a source of pride for the people of

Rhodes which is very much similar to how the people of the United States feel about their Statue

of Liberty. One of the more interesting facts is that a few of the distinctive features seen on the

Colossus of Rhodes were borrowed by Bartholdi and put on the Statue of Liberty. The first

feature that was taken from the Colossus of Rhodes is the signature head dress of the Statue of

Liberty. The Colossus of Rhodes, as noted earlier, was based off of the sun god of the Greeks,

Helios.32 As a result they put an aureole or a halo over the statue’s head to denote that he was in

fact a god.33 The reason why Bartholdi used the halo or aureole was because traditionally the

liberty cap or bonnet rouge were symbols of revolution or revolt so in the late 1800’s, which was

a time of peace in America, Bartholdi wanted to use a less radical symbol on the Statue of

Liberty’s head.34 Another reason why the halo was used was because Laboulaye was not a fan of

revolution but of progression by people through legal proceedings and his opinion was very

influential on the work by Bartholdi.35 By using the “rays of the sun god Helios” on the Statue of

Liberty’s head Bartholdi’s image of a “nurturing and maternal” figure came to life which could

engender a sense of liberty in the United States.36 Although originally Bartholdi was just looking

to find a substitute for the liberty cap Bartholdi found other pieces of the Colossus which he

found inspiring and would add it to his Statue of Liberty.

32 Babcock, “Taking Liberties, Writing from the Margins and Doing it with a Difference,” 404.33 Babcock, “Taking Liberties, Writing from the Margins and Doing it with a Difference,” 404.34 Babcock, “Taking Liberties, Writing from the Margins and Doing it with a Difference,” 404.35 Bodnar, Civic and Moral Learning in America, 212.36 Babcock, “Taking Liberties, Writing from the Margins and Doing it with a Difference,”404.

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The second feature borrowed from the Colossus of Rhodes was the torch that is such an

important part of the image of the Statue of Liberty today. The reason why the Colossus of

Rhodes held a torch was not because it was a symbol but because it was used for a practical

purpose. Standing at the harbor of the city of Rhodes the statue stood with legs spread and ocean

water flowing in below it. This is where ships would pass through and at night this statue was

used as a lighthouse to guide ships to shore.37 Originally, the Statue of Liberty was also

supposed to serve as a lighthouse, although it never effectively did, so this feature of the

Colossus of Rhodes made sense to add to its predecessor in the United States.38 However, the

Statue of Liberty’s torch has more of a symbolic meaning which Bartholdi added on it.

Bartholdi was noted as saying “The torch is a symbol of freedom. It lights the way for the

people who love Liberty.”39 Ultimately, there was one more feature in which Bartholdi emulated

the Colossus of Rhodes except as a result of modern technology in 1886 compared to that of 293

B.C. Bartholdi was able to do this better than the people of Rhodes.

By the time the Statue of Liberty was complete in 1886 it was 151 feet tall compared to

the approximately 100 foot Colossus of Rhodes.40 Bartholdi said this about the making of the

Statue of Liberty “Make (The Statue of Liberty) really huge! Liberty is a big idea!” Bartholdi

was highly inspired by the ancient Colossus of Rhodes size and as a result he worked hard to

make many of his works larger than life.41 Bartholdi was also extremely influenced by both

ancient and modern structures that were larger than life and a visit to one of these structures

would influence his work for the rest of his life.

37 Conrad,” The Arabs and The Colossus,”165.38 Babcock, “Taking Liberties, Writing from the Margins and Doing it with a Difference,” 403.39 Babcock, “Taking Liberties, Writing from the Margins and Doing it with a Difference,” 404.40 Babcock, “Taking Liberties, Writing from the Margins and Doing it with a Difference,” 403.41 Babcock, “Taking Liberties, Writing from the Margins and Doing it with a Difference,” 404.

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Francis Auguste Bartholdi was certainly disappointed when he realized that promoting

the idea for a Statue of Liberty that was to be given in America may cost him his life as a result

of the ruling of Napoleon III. However, it was not a great disappointment for Bartholdi to try

and build a great structure in Egypt. Before Bartholdi was influenced by Laboulaye, he traveled

to Egypt and marveled at the great pyramids. As author of the book A Statue for America: The

first 100 Years of the Statue of Liberty Jonathan Harris noted about Bartholdi’s first experience

in Egypt “For thousands of years these huge stone carvings had loomed over the desert sands,

inspiring awe in all who beheld them. Bartholdi promised himself that he too would create

monuments of towering size.”42 After his experience in Egypt Bartholdi wrote this about how

the great Egyptian structures inspired him “(My work will) produce an emotion in the breast of

the spectator… because its size is in keeping with the idea that it interprets, and with the place

which it will occupy.”43 Bartholdi believed the huge size of his statues would truly get his

message across. As a result of this, some of the to scale models he made of his statues and

monuments were so huge that he installed a fifteen foot door in his studio to allow them to be fit

while being taken on the way out.44 The Egyptian pyramids would not be the only structures

that Bartholdi would get inspiration from, a modern competitor would also push Bartholdi to

make his Statue of Liberty larger than life.

In the 1840’s the Germans would begin to create a huge statue they would call the

Arminius.45 The Arminius was based off of the figure of an ancient German soldier who was

able to hold off and ultimately stop an attack by the Romans.46 This Statue was not completed

42 Jonathan Harris, A Statue for America: The First 100 Years of the Statue of Liberty. New York: Four Winds Press (1985) 8.43 Harris, A Statue for America, 8.44 Harris, A Statue for America, 2.45 Harris, A Statue for America, 27.46 Harris, A Statue for America, 27.

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until 1875 which was right about the time that Bartholdi was looking for inspiration for his

Statue of Liberty.47 The Arminius would stand on an 80 foot pedestal and be approximately 76

feet tall and this statue would also include a sword raised above its head which made it look that

much taller.48 Bartholdi decided he wanted dwarf the Arminius in overall size, this is the reason

why the Statue of Liberty is 151 feet tall because it is approximately double the size of the

German Arminius.49 The Arminius was also inspirational to Bartholdi because it was made using

a style in which Bartholdi was interested in building his statue with. This style of building is

called the repousse technique.50

The repousse technique was used in antiquity but in the 19th century the art of using it

had become closed to perfected.51 Bartholdi noted that another statue that was made in the 17th

century of this technique was “only a millimeter in thickness and yet the whole work has stood

until today, that is to say, for two centuries.”52 The Arminus is another example of the building

of a statue in the memory of a fight for freedom that Bartholdi was inspired by. Although the

Arminus was the only statue he felt he was truly competing against. Without the inspiration of

this statue the Statue of Liberty may never have been so big. It is important to mention that

before Bartholdi was making the Statue of Liberty in the 1870’s he was working on another

project which Bartholdi incorporated many of the features that can be seen in our American

statue today.

Bartholdi originally felt it would be dangerous to design a Statue of Liberty for the

United States so he decided to turn his attention designing a lighthouse for the Suez Canal which

47 Harris, A Statue for America, 27.48 Harris, A Statue for America, 27.49 Harris, A Statue for America, 27.50 Harris, A Statue for America, 26.51 Harris, A Statue for America, 26.52 Harris, A Statue for America, 26.

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he based off an Egyptian fellah. An Egyptian fellah is a peasant woman that is commonly seen

throughout Egypt.53 During his first trip to Egypt in 1855-1856, Bartholdi would observe fellah

women and draw them which would later inspire his idea to make a fellah woman the basis of his

Suez Canal statue.54 Before the Suez Canal was opened in 1869 Bartholdi went back to Egypt to

pitch his idea to the leader of the country which was a man by the name of Pasha. Pasha

originally had much interest in Bartholdi’s pitch as a result Bartholdi made some test models and

sketches for Pasha to see. 55 Pasha however was a man whose attitude changed constantly, so

soon Bartholdi’s pitch after he lost interest in the project and the only reminisce of the Suez

Canal statue designs are Bartholdi’s sketches and models.56 A war would later change the

situation for Bartholdi and two years after Bartholdi was rejected by Pasha he went to the United

States where he found the spot where he could make Laboulaye’s idea come to life.

In 1869, the same year Pasha rejected Bartholdi’s idea his career was interrupted by the

Franco-Prussian War.57 Bartholdi would fight in a few battles and come out of the war unscathed

but France would lose the war.58 Although France lost the war this was positive for Bartholdi

because France was once again a republic and he could travel to the U.S. to research where he

might put his Statue of Liberty. Laboulaye encouraged Bartholdi to go from coast to coast

throughout America to find the ideal spot for the statue but as Bartholdi arrived in New York in

June, 1871 he saw an island, then known as Bedloe’s Island, which he believed was the ideal

spot for the statue.59 With Bartholdi going on a tour of America to meet and greet with officials

53 Harris, A Statue for America, 8.54 Harris, A Statue for America, 8.55 Harris, A Statue for America, 8.56 Harris, A Statue for America, 8.57 Harris, A Statue for America, 8.58 Harris, A Statue for America, 8.59 Harris, A Statue for America, 12

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and politicians, such as President Grant in 1871 he was getting much support for his statue.60

When Bartholdi got back to France he dealt with the problem of the Republic falling again to the

conservative party who wanted to put a monarchy in place.61 Yet thanks to Laboulaye and the

liberals an amendment was put in place to make France a permanent republic in 1875. With this

roadblock out of the way the French-American Union was formed in 1876 to fund the building of

the Statue.62 By 1880 the French-American Union had raised the necessary amount of funds to

build the Statue which would allow them to build it on Bedloe ’s Island.63 Now with the location

set Bartholdi had some inspirations from the Colossus of Rhodes, the Egyptian pyramids and the

German Arminus but he still felt he needed some other symbols to truly embody liberty in his

upcoming statue.

Although highly influenced by the Colossus of Rhodes the Statue of Liberty and the

former wonder of the ancient world have a major difference, their gender. Today, universally

“Lady Liberty” or the Statue of Liberty is identified as being a woman which is somewhat odd

considering this idea was formed and this statue created before a time when women could vote in

the United States. Although women were not considered equal in America at the time it can be

seen throughout history that as a symbol women were highly important. This quote sums up the

concept of why the Statue of Liberty was chosen to be a woman by Bartholdi “Make the statue a

woman because the symbol of Liberty has always been a woman. Women often represent great

ideas.”64 For people who lived in such places as France, the United States and Britain women

were common symbols of liberty. This maybe because of all these country’s backgrounds in

Christianity according to scholar Sherry Ortner who said this about the connection between

60 Harris, A Statue for America, 13.61 Harris, A Statue for America, 43.62 Harris, A Statue for America, 48.63 Harris, A Statue for America, 51.64 Babcock, “Taking Liberties, Writing from the Margins and Doing it with a Difference,” 404.

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female symbols of Liberty and the Virgin Mary, “The ideal woman emerges as all the best things

at once, mother and virgin and that complex is still very much with us as well in “Miss Liberty,”

“Mother of Exiles”.65 Different forms of the Virgin Mary may have been used by different

Christian influenced culture to not only lead a country in their religious ways but in their political

ways.66 Even before Christianity, the practice of having a female figure to represent a country

went as far back as the Ancient Romans and would later help to inspire many other countries to

use a female symbol.

The goddess Libertas or the Roman goddess of Freedom was one of the first inspirations

Bartholdi thought of as a model for his female Statue of Liberty.67 Libertas was one of the

Roman’s most revered goddesses and this was proved when in the third century B.C. a temple

was made for her.68 The goddess Libertas was also used on Roman money implemented by

Brutus after the murder of Caesar to show that a republic would rule Rome.69 Yet Bartholdi

thought Libertas was not exactly the ideal symbol he would get his inspiration from because, as

author Jonathan Harris put it “But (Libertas) symbolized merely the personal status of being free

as opposed to being a slave.”70 Libertas was not the best choice for Bartholdi’s statue but

Libertas was just the beginning when it came to female figures of liberty. The evolution of this

figure into modern figures would ultimately be Bartholdi’s inspiration.

With the conquest of the British Isles by the Romans in 43 A.D. an adaptation of Rome’s

Libertas began to be used by the citizens of this newly Roman land.71 The name for this symbol

65 Babcock, “Taking Liberties, Writing from the Margins and Doing it with a Difference,” 402.66 Babcock, “Taking Liberties, Writing from the Margins and Doing it with a Difference,” 402.67 Harris, A Statue for America, 20.68 Harris, A Statue for America, 20.69 David Harden, “Liberty Caps and Liberty Trees,” Past and Present, 146, (1995), 73.70 Harris, A Statue for America, 20.71 Derk Kinnane-Roelofsma, “ Britannia and Melitia: Pseudomorphic Sister,” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 59, (1996), 130.

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of Britain would be Britannia. Britannia is a fierce female figure that commonly has a trident in

hand and an antique helmet upon her head.72 The first appearance of Britannia shows her as a

barbarian woman who the Emperor Claudius, who was Emperor of the Roman Empire during the

conquest of the British Isles, has grasped by the hair of this defeated woman.73 Britannia then

was not used for a very long time by British people but made a re-emergence in the late 1500’s

and early 1600’s.74 With her re-emergence her meaning went from one that was associated with

the rights and values of the Romans to one of British empire.75 Britannia was portrayed in the

press, in art and in drawings as a conqueror of many countries which shows her evolution from a

barbarian to a ruler. 76 The female representation of Britannia as the country of the British clearly

did not symbolize liberty but the conquering of other lands. Yet it was one of these conquered

British lands that would bring back the female representation of liberty. Before this, the symbol

of this country was portrayed much differently.

America was originally portrayed by European painters as an Indian princess who was

“accompanied by tropical fauna and cornucopias of abundance”.77 This picture of the Indian

Princess was also filled with “exotica and erotica.”78 Author Barbara Babcock noted that

America was thought of by potential conquerors of this new land that it was a place of “untold

treasure and pleasure waited to be ravaged.”79 Printers in England would use this symbol to

either support or patronize issues going on in America through the press or craftsman would put

this Indian princess symbol on ceremonial or decorative objects that customers asked to inscribe

72 Kinnane-Roelofsma, “ Britannia and Melitia: Pseudomorphic Sister,” 130.73 Kinnane-Roelofsma, “ Britannia and Melitia: Pseudomorphic Sister,” 130.74 Kinnane-Roelofsma, “ Britannia and Melitia: Pseudomorphic Sister,” 131.75 Kinnane-Roelofsma, “ Britannia and Melitia: Pseudomorphic Sister,” 131.76 Kinnane-Roelofsma, “ Britannia and Melitia: Pseudomorphic Sister,” 131.77 Babcock, “Taking Liberties, Writing from the Margins and Doing it with a Difference,” 403.78 Babcock, “Taking Liberties, Writing from the Margins and Doing it with a Difference,” 403.79 Babcock, “Taking Liberties, Writing from the Margins and Doing it with a Difference,” 403.

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on their possessions.80 The American symbol normally was bare from the waist up, wore a head

dress and either had a club or a bow and quiver of arrows on her back.81 The Indian princess

became the most commonly used symbol of the colonies. Even during the American Revolution

the symbol of the Indian princess was used by the rebelling colonists in America.82 It was not

until later that the more recognizable symbols of American liberty would be created to

differentiate the United States from the symbol of empire by the British.

In 1776, the Continental Congress convened and created the American flag with its

thirteen stripes which stood for the thirteen rebelling colonies. Yet just because the rebelling

colonists had a new symbol in their flag they would not disregard their old symbol of the Indian

princess. In some newspaper depictions the Indian princess would be holding this flag and

waving it proudly which showed that the Indian princess went from being a subject of the British

to a supporter of the revolution by the colonists.83 The Indian princess was also commonly used

in American depictions with the Sons of Liberty and was shown as a companion of Benjamin

Franklin.84 However a new symbol was becoming important which was created by Paul Revere.

In 1770 before the revolution Revere put Britannia on the masthead of the Boston Gazzette but

made some alterations.85 Britannia was seated on the Union jack and with one of her hands she

holds a staff which on top of it had a liberty cap.86 This was the beginning of the transformation

of Britannia into the United States female symbol of Liberty.87

80 E. McClung Fleming, “The American Image of the Indian Princess,” Winterthur Portfolio 2, (1985), 65.81 McClung Fleming, “The American Image of the Indian Princess,” 67.82 McClung Fleming, “The American Image of the Indian Princess,” 74.83 McClung Fleming, “The American Image of the Indian Princess,” 74.84 McClung Fleming, “The American Image of the Indian Princess,” 74.85Korshak, “The Liberty Cap as a Revolutionary Symbol in France and America,” 57.86 Korshak, “The Liberty Cap as a Revolutionary Symbol in France and America,” 57.87 Korshak, “The Liberty Cap as a Revolutionary Symbol in France and America,” 57.

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The Indian princess began to fall out of favor because of the evolution of the United

States. The United States wanted to show that they were equals of Britain and the Indian

princess symbol, although a long standing symbol of the colonies did not do this. The Indian

princess was always portrayed as the daughter of Britain and also considered by many to be

uncivilized and this was not the way many Americans wanted to be perceived by the rest of the

world.88 This is why on July 4, 1776 when Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas

Jefferson were assigned by the Continental Congress to develop a seal for the United States the

symbol they were all including in their designs were not of the Indian princess but of the new

goddess of American Liberty.89 This symbol was not adopted by Congress during this time but

this was a great example of what some of the greatest thinkers in American history wanted to use

as a symbol to represent their country. These iconic American revolutionaries were not alone in

their thinking because throughout the first century of the United States two female symbols,

Liberty and Columbia were put in art, monuments and were the topics of many songs.90 These

were the new celebrated figures of a democratic United States. By the 1800’s the use of only

one of these figures would be necessary and this symbol would have an interesting influence on

Francis Bartholdi’s future Statue of Liberty.

By the 1800’s the American female symbol Columbia would be the most commonly used

of the two symbols created around the time of the revolution.91 Columbia’s name came from the

famous explorer Christopher Columbus who many in the 1800’s believed America should have

been named after instead of little known Amerigo Vespucci.92 The figure of Columbia had

become a popular in the throughout the 1800’s on coins and as a result Francis Bartholdi took

88 Bodnar, Civic and Moral Learning in America, 213.89 Korshak, “The Liberty Cap as a Revolutionary Symbol in France and America,” 60.90 Bodnar, Civic and Moral Learning in America, 213.91 Harris, A Statue for America, 21.92 Harris, A Statue for America, 21.

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notice.93 Columbia had taken the robe of antiquity from the formally popular goddess of liberty

and it became one of her most noticeable features.94 This was something that Bartholdi was

interested by and wanted to include in his Statue of Liberty. Yet, Bartholdi believed the figure of

Columbia was always depicted as “rather aloof and complacent…”95 Bartholdi was not looking

for a figure who was thought to sit back while events were occurring, his statue that represented

liberty had to be able to take action if needed.96 As a result, Columbia’s robe was the only aspect

of the symbol that was used in the Statue of Liberty, and Bartholdi would find one of his own

country’s symbols would be a much better form of inspiration.97

“Liberty Leading the People, 1830” by Eugene Delecroix is one of the most famous and

inspirational French paintings of its time.98 Marianne, the long standing symbol of France,

would evolve from this painting and later became immortalized in French culture. An early

representation of Marianne is at the center of this picture, bare breasted, wearing a liberty cap

and leading a mass of people into the French Revolution.99 Of course both Francis Bartholdi and

Edouard Labouylaye knew this famous portrait and it helped to greatly inspire the Statue of

Liberty but not in the way one would think. As already mentioned Laboulaye who would be

Bartholdi’s main influence throughout his creation of the Statue of Liberty despised the kind of

“radical protest” that was seen in Delecroix’s painting.100 As a result, the Statue of Liberty was

somewhat designed to be the antithesis of Marianne. The Statue would be fully covered, would

wear an aureole instead of a Liberty cap and to blur its similarities with Marianne, the Statue of

93 Harris, A Statue for America, 2194 Harris, A Statue for America, 21.95 Harris, A Statue for America, 21.96 Harris, A Statue for America,, 2197 Harris, A Statue for America, 21.98 Bodnar, Civic and Moral Learning in America, 212.99 Bodnar, Civic and Moral Learning in America, 212.100 Bodnar, Civic and Moral Learning in America, 212.

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Liberty’s face would be based on Charlotte, the mother of Bartholdi.101 Bartholdi’s mother was

known to be highly patriotic, teaching a young Bartholdi the values of liberty, equality and

fraternity.102 Bartholdi’s mother was a descendent of an Alsatian hero of the French Revolution,

which to Bartholdi, made her face an overall perfect model for his Statue of Liberty.103 Bartholdi

would try to make the statue the opposite of the French revolutionary figure of Marianne but at

the same time Bartholdi’s statue would celebrate this time period by adding the face of

Bartholdi’s mother who was directly related to the French Revolution.

The fact this statue was inspired by many different people from all over the world and is

linked to revolutions which engendered liberty makes this statue truly American. This is a statue

of the people and for the people which celebrates democracy not an elite figure whose likeness

was made into a statue, celebrated and was later learned to be highly flawed which would lead to

discussions by historians or the public of whether that statue should be celebrated at all. The

Statue of Liberty is different, when historians and the public learn about the origins of the Statue

of Liberty they will be pleased to learn it incorporates the most important ideals of being

American and the history of this country and others that fight for their freedom. This is a figure

that we can all appreciate because it is not of a historical person who is supposed to represent

American ideals but in reality may not have, this is a statue that represents the history of the

people’s fight and triumph for liberty which reminds us that we are lucky to live in a country

whose most famous statue is of a motherly figure who protects us from tyranny.

101 Bodnar, Civic and Moral Learning in America, 212.102 Harris, A Statue for America, 24.103 Harris, A Statue for America, 24.

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