Sixth Grade
Worksheets
Lady Liberty Comes Home
The Statue of Liberty was designed by French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. The statue was to be a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States. The offering symbolized freedom and friendship.
Bartholdi designed the statue to look like his mother. Gustave Eiffel, builder of the Eiffel Tower, designed the iron and steel frame. Bartholdi chose copper to cover the outside of the statue, because he knew it would age with a fine patina. This patina is what gives the statue its green color.
But Bartholdi ran out of money. Lady Liberty was not ready in time. The statue was intended to help America celebrate its one hundredth birthday. Only the right arm and torch were displayed at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. That was the first official World's Fair in the United States. It celebrated the signing of the Declaration of Independence one hundred years before. Visitors could pay fifty cents to climb a ladder and stand on the balcony around the torch. The money was used to pay for the rest of the statue.
