August 16, 2021
Continuing our look at America’s national monuments, we go today to the Statue of Liberty.
“The Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World” was a gift of friendship from the people of France to the United States and is recognized as a universal symbol of freedom and democracy.
The copper statue was designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and its metal framework was built by Gustave Eiffel.
Bartholdi completed the head and the torch-bearing arm before the statue was fully designed, and these pieces were exhibited for publicity at international expositions.
The right arm holding the torch was the first completed piece of the Statue of Liberty. It was displayed for the first time at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, and in Madison Square Park in Manhattan from 1876 to 1882. For a fee, visitors could climb the ladder inside the arm and stand on the viewing platform at the torch. That money was one of the earliest fundraisers for the pedestal.
Following the completion of Lady Liberty’s right arm, her head was built next. At the Paris Universal Exposition in 1878, visitors could buy a pass to climb 36 steps and stand inside the crown. The Statue’s head, much like her arm two years earlier, was used to raise funds for construction.
According to the arrangement between the two nations, France would give the statue, and the U.S. would provide the site and build the pedestal. Fundraising proved difficult, especially for the Americans, and by 1885 work on the pedestal was threatened by lack of funds. Publisher Joseph Pulitzer, of the New York World, started a drive for donations to finish the project and attracted more than 120,000 contributors, most of whom gave less than a dollar.
Bedloe’s Island, chosen as the site for the statue, is owned by the United States government. It had been ceded by the New York State Legislature in 1800 for harbor defense, and it is an appropriate place for the statue since the island is common to all the states.
The Statue of Liberty was dedicated on October 28, 1886.
In 1903, a plaque inscribed with the sonnet "The New Colossus," by American poet Emma Lazarus was placed on an interior wall of the pedestal. Lazarus’ now-famous words, which include “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” became symbolic of America’s vision of itself as a land of opportunity for immigrants who were heartily welcomed when they came legally, instead of illegally entering, circumventing the laws of the nation.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she with silent lips. “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.” Hearing the first sentence of this paragraph with the rest of the quote makes it even more powerful: Keep your storied pomp! Give me your tired, your poor!
During the 1964 election campaign in support of Republican nominee Barry Goldwater, future president Ronald Reagan, gave his powerful “A Time for Choosing” speech. Here are portions of that speech – no less meaningful, no less important today – combined with a dramatic presentation of Emma Lazarus' great poem.
The Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World was designated as a National Monument in 1924.
👉 In 1887, Captain George Thatcher Balch, a Union Army Officer during the Civil War and later a teacher of patriotism [in a day when athletes turn their backs on the National Anthem or refuse to stand when it is sung, we desperately need teachers of patriotism] in New York City schools created a pledge for students to recite: “We give our heads and hearts to God and our country; one country, one language, one flag!”
In August 1892, Francis Bellamy, who was a Baptist minister, said Balch’s pledge was “too juvenile and lacking in dignity.” He wrote a new pledge: “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
In 1923, the National Flag Conference called for the words “my Flag” to be changed to “the Flag of the United States,” so that new immigrants would not confuse loyalties between their birth countries and the US. The words “of America” were added a year later. Congress officially recognized the Pledge on June 22, 1942: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” Congress added the words “under God” on Flag Day, June 14, 1954. Incidently, the comma comes after “God” and not after “nation” – One nation under God – but we seldom recite it that way.
Today, Congressional sessions open with the recital of the Pledge. Forty-six states require a regularly scheduled recitation of the pledge in public schools – California, Hawaii, Vermont, and Wyoming do not. In 1940, the Supreme Court, in Minersville School District v. Gobitis, ruled that students in public schools, including the respondents in that case – Jehovah’s Witnesses who considered the flag salute to be idolatry – could be compelled to swear the Pledge. In 1943, in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, the Supreme Court reversed its decision.
👉 Today’s close is by Chuck Swindoll.
Heavenly Father, it is our deep desire to glorify Your name. We want to honor Your Word, even when it squares off against our own feelings or experiences. We thank You for being kind enough to teach us the basic things about grace. And we pray that teaching might result in freedom from the bondage that has held captive some of Your people far too long.
Now we ask for several things – that You would guard us from extremism; that You would guard us from misunderstanding; that You would guard Your children from foolish, licentious living; and that You would guard us from a misappropriation of freedom. And, Father, that You would guard those of us who keep lists from thinking that our lists make us more holy. Deal first with our attitude, our Father, then with our lives – whether it’s for salvation, or for deliverance from the terrible plague of legalism, or simply for the joy of living free in Christ.
We ask it in the name that is above all names, Jesus Himself. Amen.
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