“The statue would hold out to the whole world the standard of liberty to which Edouard Laboulaye devoted his life’s work.”

Summary

The Statue of Liberty has come to seem as much a part of America as the Grand Canyon. The oldest rocks of the Grand Canyon were formed by forces of nature some two billion years ago, and the Statue of Liberty, a project of mere mortals, has been around only since the end of the nineteenth century. But it came along and suddenly forever became part of the identity of the country it came into.