[Angelino97]

The statue was intended to honor America's Centennial of 1876. It was meant to symbolize Liberty.

Then in 1903, they added Emma Lazarus's poem to the statue, and it became a symbol of Immigration.

[Tell It Right]

I agree in part, that it was not meant as a beacon for mass immigration like the libs make it out to be.

The statue was conceptualized in 1865 at the end of the U.S. civil war. It was an abolitionist statement (basically a statement for France to truly abolish slavery, not pretend to). A look at the statue should remind us to be glad that the Christian abolitionist movement won ... over the so-called enlightenment movement (which was more pro-slavery than anti-slavery until the Christians changed the culture, largely with people like Pastor Theodore Weld).

Today it should remind us that the mantra "It's not a person, it's a clump of cells" is just as wrong and dehumanizing as "It's not a person, it's just property."