On April 2, 1834, the French sculptor Frédéric Bartholdi was born. He was the designer of the Statue of Liberty, a landmark building in Manhattan, New York.
Frederick Bartholdi
If the White House is the center of American power and a symbol of government, then the Statue of Liberty, built to commemorate American independence, has become a symbol of the entire country and the spirit of freedom, just as the Arc de Triomphe was to France.
Why was an American landmark designed by a Frenchman?
First, the Statue of Liberty is a testimony to the Franco-American alliance during the North American War of Independence.
As early as the time of Elizabeth, the British fleet defeated the Spanish Armada and became a maritime power, seriously threatening the position of France, the European hegemon at that time.
When the War of Independence broke out in 1775, the thirteen colonies of the Americas officially declared war on their metropolis, Britain. At that time, the American colonies were weak and the army was composed of peasants, which urgently needed French support.
Shortly after the Declaration of Independence, the 70-year-old Franklin sailed to Paris and successfully persuaded King Louis XVI of France to pay for troops to support the Revolution of Independence.
Finally, after the victory of the American army at the Battle of Saratoga in 1778, France and the United States formally concluded the Treaty of Alliance.
The combined forces of the American and French forces almost ensured victory in the war against Britain. At the same time, the United States was able to complete the cause of independence, and King George III also made a certain "contribution".
Eventually, France became the first country to recognize American independence. More than a hundred years later, in order to continue this alliance friendship, a great gift that had been prepared for 10 years, the Statue of Liberty, finally sailed from Paris to New York on a warship.
Part of the Statue of Liberty
Second, during the American Civil War, neutral France projected peace and freedom onto the United States, which had just ended its Civil War.
In 1861, just as Prussian Prime Minister Bismarck was waging an "iron war" for the cause of German reunification, the United States broke out a war between northern and southern plantation slave owners.
The largest civil war in American history ended with the victory of the Union and the abolition of slavery.
Of course, the early end of this civil war has a lot to do with the neutrality of Britain and France. This was thanks to the flexible and pragmatic diplomatic style of the Lincoln government, which successfully prevented diplomatic recognition of the Confederate Alliance by Britain and France.
But Britain and France were not idle, and these old colonial empires competed for colonies everywhere in Asia and North America. Britain and France were still playing "Game of Thrones" in Canada on the front foot, and they united on the back foot to run to China to start the Second Opium War.
As the saying goes, if you don't die, you don't die. Revolution finally broke out within France, which was invading everywhere. Napoleon III, who came to power by stealing the fruits of the February Revolution, finally suffered the consequences of his own evil. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870 ended with the defeat of France, and Napoleon III was captured at the Battle of Sedan. Three days after the surrender, the Bonaparte dynasty was overthrown by a revolution initiated by the people of Paris. This is again so similar to the fate of his uncle Napoleon I.
After the overthrow of the empire, under the leadership of the Paris Commune, the French desperately yearned for peace and freedom, and projected this desire on the United States across the ocean.
In 1875, French professor Lavolayet proposed that France finance the Statue of Liberty, and the United States provide the site and build the base. As a result, the large project of the Statue of Liberty, designed by Bartholdi and built by Gustave Eiffel, was finally completed after 10 years.
Preliminary completion of the Statue of Liberty
So, why did the United States at that time accept such values as representatives of the American spirit?
First, it stems from the French Revolution's spiritual tradition of freedom and equality.
The designer, Bartholdi, has been passionate about sculpture since his youth, and twice lobbied the Egyptian governor to build a towering lighthouse at the mouth of the Suez Canal, modeled after the ancient Roman "Statue of Liberty", but in the end, it was unsuccessful.
In fact, the reason why Bartholdi is so obsessed with the Statue of Liberty can be traced back to the image of the Statue of Liberty established in the hearts of the French by the girl who died for the republican cause during the French Revolution.
Because Bartholdi's direct inspiration was Delacroix's famous painting "Liberty Leading the People".
"Freedom Leading the People"
A young girl loyal to the republican regime held a torch and shouted "For the republic, forward!" " slogans rushed to the enemy position. Even Rousseau, the spokesman of the French Revolution, would have identified with such a national image.
Second, freedom and equality catered to the values of the bourgeoisie after the American Civil War.
In 1885, the pedestal of the statue of the goddess was still not completed due to financial problems. American newspaper tycoon Joseph Pulitzer argued in a front-page editorial in the New York World that the Statue of Liberty had nowhere to stay, "an unwashable shame for New York City and for our Republic!" He attracted 120,000 Americans to donate and eventually completed the project.
After the American Civil War, especially the successful abolition of slavery, freedom and equality began to sprout in the hearts of Americans, especially laying the mass foundation for the movement against racial discrimination led by Martin Luther King Jr.
It turns out that behind a landmark building is the historical and cultural value of a country.
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