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Themes God's Greatness SHOW AND TELL Friendship rings, friendship bracelets..... and how about a friendship statue? In 1865, Eduard-Rene Lefevred Laoulaye, a French politician, decided that people in France should show people in America that they were true friends. He also wanted Americans to know that people in France liked the freedom and liberty that Americans had fought for in the Revolutionary War. To say this was good. However, they needed to show it. Laoulaye contacted his friend, the famous French sculptor, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. In 1871, Bartholdi sailed to America to find a site for a sculptor. He selected Bedloe Island in the Upper New York Bay. In his workshop, Bartholdi designed a huge sculpture of a lady wearing flowing robes. He modeled her face after his mother. She would hold a torch in her hand and wear a crown with seven spikes on it. The seven spikes represented the seven seas and seven continents in the world. Lady Liberty would have a big broken chain at her feet to represent how America broke away from England for freedom. In her left arm she would carry a tablet inscribed with the date of the American Declaration of Independence. She would sit on a huge concrete and granite base. By 1875, the French people had donated $400,000 to build the sculptor. Bartholdi finished the arm and the torch by 1876. Alexander Augustave Eiffel, builder of the Eiffel Tower, designed the frame for the statue. Finally, the French Ship, Isere, set sail for America with 214 wood crates holding over 420,000 pounds of materials. In June of 1886, workers began to assemble the giant statue on the island that became known as Liberty Island. Workers carefully assembled the frame and the 300 sheets of thin copper hammered to the right shape and riveted together. In the end, the statue stood nearly a football field tall at 305 feet and 1 inch from the base to the top of the flame. The nose was 4 1/2 feet long and each eye 2 1/2 feet across. In a massive ceremony in the New York Harbor on October 28, 1886, the French dedicated the statue titled: Liberty Enlightening the World. Over time, it became known as the Statue of Liberty. From the 1890's through the 1920's, thousands of people came to America to live in freedom. The Statue of Liberty met every ship that cruised into the harbor with new citizens on board. They were first welcomed to America by the Statue representing the friendship of the French people and their love for freedom. Two million people visit this national monument each year. Inside are two stairways and two elevators that lead to an observation deck in the crown. At night, lights shine on the gold covered flame reminding everyone of the kindness of the French and the value of freedom all over the world. The French showed they love freedom by giving the gift of a beautiful, sculpted, statue. God told us in the Bible that He loves us. However, "But God commendeth (showed) His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).
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Shelly McKenna
