The Statue of Liberty: Liberty Enlightening the World?
Volume 3 | Issue 4 - Landmarks
Article by Robert Whitley. Edited by Liz Goodwin. Additional research by Robert Whitley.
Libertas inaestimabilis res est (Liberty is a thing beyond all price).
On 28 October, 1886, Frédéric Bartholdi dedicated the Statue of Liberty to the United States of America as a gift from France. The statue depicts Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, symbolising Americas Deceleration of Independence from Great Britain on the 4th of July, 1776. A broken chain lies at the statue’s feet demonstrating a break from the imperial shackles of empire. This separation is often celebrated by Americans as the defining moment in their history.
During the American Revolution France and Spain set up a major aid programme to improve the effectiveness of colonial resistance. They were enemies of Britain for two main reasons. Firstly, the British were Protestant and therefore posed a religious threat to the Catholic countries at a time when religion and politics were intrinsically linked. Secondly, the British Empire was one of the biggest economic competitors in trade. It must be remembered that at this moment in time France was still a monarchy, with the French Revolution over decade away. French involvement was more to do with imperial rivalry with Britain than any commitment to American notions of liberty; in fact, many have argued that it was the American Revolution that caused the French Revolution.
At 46 metres high and weighing a massive 204.1 metric tonnes the statue dominates Liberty Island on New York. The questions to ask is as follows: What is this Liberty that the statue supposedly represents? The concept is difficult to define but broadly speaking liberty is synonymous with freedom, free will, and rights. In many ways, liberty is the freedom to go about ones business without interference. In this respect the American Revolution provided political liberty; the colonists became self governing, no longer needing to submit to parliamentary decisions by mainly Englishmen across the channel. Though in saying this, the French would never have presented a gift to the American government, in the late 19th century, in order to commemorate a purely political victory. The Statue of Liberty represents much more than independence. It demonstrates freedom from tyranny. The historian Gordon Wood has argued that the American Revolution began a thought process that eventually liberated women and slaves bringing equality to the new nation.
However, if we take a second look at the American Revolution, what did it really achieve? Certainly not freedom from slavery. It is a well known fact that slavery legally continued in the United States until December 1865, bearing in mind that the British had abolished the slave trade in 1807 and slavery in 1833. Women did not gain the vote in the States until 1920. In fact, post Revolution society still barred many from voting. And what about the thousands of Indians who were forced off their land by the policy of manifest destiny?
This essay has not been written to condemn America, nor has it been written to take some sort of moral high ground. The Statue of Liberty is important. It is a symbol; an idea that should be one of the cornerstones of any country’s, or individual’s, ideology. However, one should not view the past with rose tinted glasses. The American Revolution was not a major turning point in which America suddenly gained the torch of freedom that it then shone on the rest of the world. The British cherished liberty just as much as the colonists, and so too did the one in five Loyalists who sided with the mother country. The main difference was in how to maintain liberty. The British saw it’s preservation in institutions and feared mob rule; the Patriots saw it the other way round. Both feared a conspiracy of the self-interested to subvert the freedoms and liberties of the people. Perhaps more time should be spent remembering those whose liberty was subverted and celebrating the true moments when it was preserved, or more specifically, when it was realised.