One of the most famous statues in the world stands on an island in New York Harbor. This statue is, of course, the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty is a woman who holds a torch up high. It weighs 225 tons and is 301 feet tall.
The Statue of Liberty was put up in 1886. It was a gift to the United States from the people of France.  raised moneysymbolizedrelationshipcontributedOver the yearsindependencefigured outadmired France and the United States had a special  figured outcontributedadmiredsymbolizedindependenceOver the yearsrelationshipraised money. In 1776, France helped the American colonies gain  contributedrelationshipadmiredOver the yearsraised moneysymbolizedfigured outindependence from England. The French wanted to do something special for the U.S. centennial, its 100th birthday.
Édouard-René Laboulaye was a well-known Frenchman who  contributedOver the yearsrelationshipraised moneyadmiredindependencesymbolizedfigured out the United States. One night at a dinner in his house, Laboulaye talked about the idea of a gift. Among Laboulaye's guests was the French sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi. Bartholdi thought of a statue of liberty. He offered to design the statue.
Many people  relationshipsymbolizedraised moneyindependencefigured outcontributedadmiredOver the years in some way. The French people gave money for the statue. Americans designed and built the pedestal for the statue to stand on. The American people  contributedindependencerelationshipraised moneyadmiredfigured outsymbolizedOver the years to pay for the pedestal. The French engineer Alexandre Eiffel, who was famous for his Eiffel Tower in Paris,  admiredfigured outraised moneyindependencecontributedsymbolizedrelationshipOver the years how to make the heavy statue stand.
In the years after the statue was put up, many immigrants came to the United States through New York. As they entered New York Harbor, they saw the Statue of Liberty holding up her torch. She  relationshipsymbolizedadmiredraised moneyindependencefigured outcontributedOver the years a welcome to a land of freedom.