The problem is that those outside America see her as a shining light, a beacon.
Immigrants have told many stories of seeing the Statue of Liberty, and then accomplishing great and wonderful things, in America.
Why did the French give you that statue, anyway?
Interesting. Thanks for posting.
It was a gift commemorating our Centennial in 1876.
Because Egypt turned down the idea.
Bartholdi had traveled to Egypt in 1856 to see the pyramids and the Sphinx. Their grand scale awed him and confirmed his own predilection for statues of colossal size. He returned to the land of the Nile in 1869, to attend the opening of the Suez Canal. Bartholdi hoped to convince the then ruler of Egypt, Ismail Pasha, to commission the Alsatian to create a monument in the form of a giant peasant woman holding aloft a torch, its theme to be "Progress" or "Egypt Carrying the Light to Asia." This statue would be twice the size of the Sphinx and stand beside the entrance to the canal, serving the double purpose of monument and lighthouse. The pasha rejected the idea, and Bartholdi returned to France to rekindle the American proposal.
So what does New York and Port Said, Egypt have in common? -- Originally, American's very own statue of Liberty was to be placed not in New York but at Port Said. The Statue of Liberty was really inspired by the huge statues at Abu Simbel. Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor of the statue designed the American Lady of Liberty as 'Egypt carrying the light of Asia'. However, the Khedive Ismail decided that the project was too expensive, so the 'Light of Asia' was sent to the US instead, where she became the Statue of Liberty.