Why did the french give us a lady on the statue of liberty?

Question

Why did the french give us a lady on the statue of liberty?

Answer 1

In 1886 the Statue of Liberty was erected as a symbol of American generosity towards a hungry and unfree world. Lady Liberty initially was inspired by French abolitionists with the intention of saluting Lincoln and the emancipation of the slaves. Its original intent, celebrating the end of slavery, was redirected by the politics of "race" towards the White "huddled masses" of Europe. The original meaning of the Statue of Liberty was corrupted by the deeply rooted racist ideology of American political leadership and its supportive intelligentsia. Interracial prejudice, with the primary victims being Catholic and Jews, was widespread during the late 19th century. "White supremacy" and terrorist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan (1868) emerged and like their predecessors, the No Nothing party of the 1840s, included Catholics and Jews in their litany of hate and murder in addition to African Americans.

But these people, Catholics and Jews, were not Black people.....

http://corrosion-doctors.org/Landmarks/s...

Answer 2

In most languages, all nouns have genders. The word Liberty is always feminine, so it would have to be allegorically represented by a lady. The English language lost that feature many centuries ago. So to an English-only speaker, the feminine Liberty association is not immediately obvious. USA followed the established convention to represent Liberty by a female until 1909, when Congress decreed that the legally required image of "Liberty" on a 1 cent coin would be represented by Lincoln.

Answer 3

The female form has been used as an allegory for noble traits. Liberty has long been depicted as a female, as has Justice, blindfolded and holding a set of scales. Columbia, as depicted at the beginning of many cinemas, is another symbolic representation of America, even though Christopher Columbus was a male.

Answer 4

The goddess of liberty is an old symbol, although a pagan one who first appears in the form we know during the Roman Empire. She became of the three great symbols of the French Revolution (Liberty, Equality,Fraternity). Female figures leading the people to freedom are traditional icons in France and elsewhere.

The US Capital has a similar figure of Lady Freedom atop the dome, very similar to the Statute of Liberty. Its selection occurred before the Statue was made.

One of the oldest icons in Western culture is Athena, the goddess of Athens, quite similar to the Statue of Liberty, but without the torch of freedom held aloft.

http://www.languedoc-france.info/0614120...