In the 1860s, French historian and politician, L’donard - Rene Lefebvre do Laboulaye, who had great admiration for the U.S., proposed the construction of a joint French- American monument celebrating the ideal of liberty. The Statue Liberty was a gift of the French people to America in appreciation of U.S. help to the French commander Lafayette during the Revolution in France. Thus, in 1871, a famous French sculptor Auguste Bartholdi sailed to the U.S. and selected Bedloe island, now Liberty Island in Upper New York Bay as the site for the monument. The Statue shows a woman draped in loose robes with her uplifted right hand holding a glowing torch; while her other arm holds a tablet bearing the date of the Declaration of Independence. Over the years the Statue of Liberty has become of symbol of freedom to people all over the world. To the lakhs of immigrants who came to the U.S. to escape poverty and persecution, the statue became a strong, inspiring and welcoming figure holding out the promise of freedom and opportunity.

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