1 Sometimes people give a gift as a sign of friendship. The Statue of Liberty was this kind of gift. It was a gift from France to the United States. France and the United States had been allies, or friends, ever since the American Revolution.
2 At first, France wanted to give the Statue of Liberty to the United States in 1876. That would be just in time for the 100-year celebration of the Declaration of Independence. France began building the statue. At the same time, the United States began building the base that it would stand on.
3 In France, Mr. Bartholdi started to build the statue out of copper. Mr. Eiffel, who had built the Eiffel Tower, started to build a steel frame to fit inside the statue. This steel frame would make the giant statue sturdy.
