Miss Liberty or Lady Liberty, widely known from the iconic Statue of Liberty (dedicated in 1886), represents America and the set of ideals related to liberty. Liberty is a concept so powerful that it has inspired political thought and action throughout the world, and the Statue of Liberty, larger than life in size and meaning, inspires awe in anyone who sees it in person. She is legendary for her size, and her symbolism continues to offer hope to anyone who has experienced oppression. For these qualities, the Statute of Liberty has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The central place of liberty among the founding ideals of the United States is owed partly to Thomas Jefferson (1743–1823), who as primary author of the Declaration of Independence included liberty in his list of fundamental rights: “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, among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Liberty represents America’s symbolic place in the family of nations. William Moraley (1699–1762), imprisoned for debts after financial failure in his homeland, traveled to the North American colonies in the 1720s as a bound servant in search of liberty after signing a contract of indenture. In his journal, Moraley embellished a poem by George Webb from a 1730 almanac praising William “Pen” Penn (1644–1718), who was the proprietor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania was home to the first North American lodge of the secret fraternal order of the Free and Accepted Masons that promoted an egalitarian sensibility of liberalism. Moraley chronicled an ordinary man’s perception of Liberty: “Goddess of Numbers, who art wont to rove / O’er the gay Landskip, and the smiling grove: / Assist the soaring Muse, with Judgment to repeat. …” Moraley concluded: “What Praise, O Pen! what Thanks are due to thee! / For this first perfect Scheme of Liberty! / What Praise! What Thanks! to thee, O Pen! are given, / Beloved of Men! and Candidate for Heaven.”
Men and women who helped to establish the United States through revolution acknowledged an ancient female representation of Liberty. George Washington (1732–1799) created a watermark that featured a central figure of Liberty leaning on a plow, a reference to the agricultural roots of the new nation, and to the ideal of agrarian republicanism in ancient Rome. Liberty holds a liberty pole with a cap aloft. Liberty poles were first raised in the American colonies to protest the Stamp Act of 1765. They were topped with soft red conical caps alluding to the ancient Roman custom of newly freed slaves shaving their heads and donning red caps. Liberty leans upon a plow relevant to Freemasons as the symbol of continuing advancement from a lower to a higher state. The advancement of humanity relied upon each progressive step, akin to the pragmatic Christian precept “No man having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of heaven” (Luke 9:62).
A popular song of the late colonial period, “The Liberty Tree” (1775) with lyrics by Thomas Paine (1734–1809), presented Liberty as a goddess that carried a branch of the Liberty Tree to the New World that was a pledge of her love: “In a chariot of light from the regions of day, / The Goddess of Liberty came; / Ten thousand celestials directed the way / And hither conducted the dame.” In this context Liberty became a temple where free men like brothers could congregate and leave their troubles that should be defended behind: “From the east to the west blow the trumpet to arms, / Through the land let the sound of it flee, / Let the far and the near, all unite with a cheer, / In defense of our Liberty Tree.”
Freedom of religion was one of Liberty’s promises. Another song of the early republic called “Rights of Conscience” (1813) by Shaker poet Issachar Bates (1758–1837) admonished the new government for undermining the experimental, somewhat ephemeral efforts of the founding fathers: “Liberty is but a sound, / If the conscience still is bound; / Could you but her reigns control, / You would creed-bind every soul. / You, and when we say ‘tis you, / We’ve no respect to Greek or Jew; / But boldly tell you what we mean, / Your vile Church that lives in sin.” Even as nationalism developed in the United States and a sense of cultural identity immerged, Bates reminded Americans, in his use of Liberty, that they are a nation of immigrants that have a precious experiment in living together in harmony.
Nineteenth-Century Rejuvenation of Liberty
Miss Liberty contains sensibilities of daily life—the values and habits that inform social behavior, which in turn are expressed in social movements. The “Year of Failed Revolutions,” 1848, initiated an important blending of culture, politics, and social transformation. It was a pivotal point for folkloric nationalism that continued through the next fifty years. Transformative change was attributed to universal forces like modernization, capitalism, colonialism, and imperialism, or to charismatic powerful leaders. On February 24, 1848, insurrections ensued in Paris; in March, riots broke out in Vienna against the Habsburg government of Metternich. In Hungary, Louis Kossuth gave a speech on the virtues of liberty on March 2, with immediate repercussions in Vienna. With the fall of Metternich, riots and rebellion broke out across Germany and the Austrian Habsburg empire including Berlin (March 15), Hungary (March 15), Bohemia (March 18), and Milan (March 18), followed by Venice, Tuscany, Sardinia, and more, as the Risorgimento commenced. Established governments were surprised but not broken. By autumn, the revolutions had been crushed. With the destruction of the revolutionary movements, Miss Liberty appeared as a folk literary theme embedded in different modes of storytelling that endured at home and abroad. Meanwhile, in the Sierras of California, gold was discovered on January 24, 1848. As word spread, 300,000 people traveled to the gold fields in the first “world-class” gold rush (1848–1855) that brought about global economic and cultural stimulation and a boom-time concept of Liberty as an opportunity to find perpetual wealth.
The Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty was designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi (1834–1904) based upon an idea of French abolitionist Édouard René de Laboulaye (1811–1883). Bartholdi and Laboulaye recognized that America had two strong, feminine symbols of early nationalism: Columbia and allegorical Liberty, who was derived from Libertas, the ancient Roman goddess of freedom among emancipated slaves. The seven rays on her crown represent the seven continents on earth. She strides forward, symbolically leading the way and lighting a path to Liberty and Freedom. At Liberty’s feet are broken chains and shackles symbolizing the throwing off of tyranny and oppression. Even as the Statue of Liberty arrived in America, the United States was enacting restrictive immigration laws at a time when massive waves of immigration reached the nation during the late 1800s. These immigrants embraced Lady Liberty as the “Mother of Exiles.” The tablet in her hand is inscribed: “July IV MDCCLXXVI” (July 4, 1776), recognizing that the Declaration of Independence contains the core concepts. Her original name in French is La Liberté éclairant le monde, meaning “Liberty Enlightening the World,” which is visually conveyed with her torch of liberty.
During World War I and the interwar years, Liberty’s role continued to evolve in popular culture. The Irving Berlin musical Miss Liberty was based upon the book by American playwright Robert E. Sherwood (1896–1955) who had served as the director of the Office of War Information during World War II. Russian-born Jewish American songwriter Irving Berlin (1888–1989), known for his patriotic songs including “God Bless America,” wrote the song “Give me your tired, your poor,” based upon the poem “New Colossus” by an American poet also of Jewish descent named Emma Lazarus (1849–1887): “Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, / The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. / Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, / I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” The Lazarus sonnet had been donated to an auction organized by the Art Loan Fund Exhibition in Aid of the Bartholdi Pedestal Fund for the Statue of Liberty, which raised funds for the pedestal of Bartholdi’s Statue of Liberty. Lazarus’s concept of Miss Liberty carried on the tradition of earlier visionaries: “A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame / Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name/ Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand / Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command / The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.”
Meredith Eliassen
See also America as the New Israel; Founding Myths; Henry, Patrick; Washington, George
Further Reading
Hayden, Richard Seth, Thierry W. Despont, and Nadine Post. 1986. Restoring the Statue of Liberty: Sculpture, Structure, Symbol. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Holland, F. Ross. 1993. Idealists, Scoundrels, and the Lady: An Insider’s View of the Statue of Liberty–Ellis Island Project. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Moraley, William. 1992. The Infortunate: The Voyage and Adventures of William Moraley, An Indentured Servant. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.
National Park Service. 2012. Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
Trachtenberg, Marvin. 1976. The Statue of Liberty. New York: Viking Press.