Here is the history of the famous Statue of Liberty...

The Statue of Liberty was given to the United States by France in recognition of the friendship established between the 2 nations during the American Revolution.

It was originally intended as a gift to celebrate the 100th anniversary of America's independence in 1876. Raising funds to design, ship and construct the massive structure took longer than anticipated, however, and the statue didn't find its home in New York harbor until 1886.

Once there, it quickly became the world's most widely recognized symbol of liberty. Immigrants streaming into the United States by way of nearby Ellis Island were guided to America's shores, in a literal and a symbolic sense, by Liberty's torch