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Most of the immigrants who passed by the Statue of Liberty on their way to America were not rich. All the steerage passengers on the ship across went though Ellis Island. They had the cheapest tickets and no space set aside for them. They were usually crowded together in smelly, cramped areas in the lower decks, with no room for luggage. They brought very little with them and had to choose wisely when they left their old countries for their new home. Most important were what they needed aboard the ship and what was necessary when they got to New York. Their few belongings were customarily packed in baskets or bundles, rather than the luggage that richer passengers used. They had to carry everything on and off board themselves.
Statue of Liberty standing proud in New York harbor, More Corrosion Doctors pictures
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For people all around the world, the statue symbolizes American freedom, hope, and opportunity.The statue was originally proposed by a now obscure French historian, Edouard de Laboulaye, a prominent French abolitionist, and designed by the French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. The statue has severed chains on one of her feet. The Statue of Liberty was a gift from French republicans who wanted to advance their political cause: the replacement of the monarchy of Napoleon III with a republican system of government. It was modeled, in part, on the Roman goddess Libertas, the personification of liberty and freedom in classical Rome, which led some critics to object to a heathen goddess standing in New York harbor. Others derided the statue as a "useless gift," "Neither an object of Art or of Beauty," and it seemed possible that the statue would be placed in Boston or Philadelphia.
The final $100,000 for the statue's pedestal were raised by the Hungarian-born publisher Joseph Pulitzer, who asked New York's poor for contributions. In exchange, he printed their names in his newspaper. One wrote a letter to his paper, The World: "I am a young girl alone in the world, and earning my own living. Enclosed please find 60 cents, the result of self-denial. I wish I could make it 60 thousand dollars, instead of cents, but drops make the ocean." Over time, the statue's symbolic meaning has been transformed. After the America's emergence as a world power after its defeat of Spain in the Spanish-American War of 1898, the statue became a symbol of American might. It was not until the twentieth century and massive immigration from eastern and southern Europe that the statue became "a lady of hope" for immigrants and refugees (reference)
Other Statue of Liberty topics: Auguste Bartholdi, Construction, Copper, Corrosion, History, Head, Introduction, Model, Picture, Postcard, Restoration, Symbolism
Other landmarks: Christ the Redeemer, Colossus, Delhi pillar, Eiffel tower, Golden Gate bridge, Great Buddha, Guggenheim Museum (Bilbao), Guggenheim Museum (NYC), Normandy bridge, Oresund crossing, Quebec Bridge, Statue of Liberty, Thames Barrier, Titanic, Tower of the Orologio
