Eamonn Fitzgerald's Rainy Day

There was a different inscription on the pedestal when it was erected.

The Statue of Liberty was a gift from the people of France (not the government, but private enthusiasts), to symbolize the participation of France in the American War of Independence, and the perpetual friendship of the two nations.

France raised the money for, and constructed the Statue itself, but the pedestal was to be built with funds provided by the Americans.

Newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer (b. Hungary, 1847), raised most of the funds for the pedestal. He felt that New York's millionaires should be coughing up more money for the statue.

Emma Lazarus was a fourth-generation American, a member of New York's Sephardic Jewish community a philanthropist interested in aid to Russian Jewish refugees persecuted by the Czar. She supported the immigration of Russian Jews to America, then as now, the least anti-Semitic country on Earth.

She wrote "The New Colossus" for the Bartholdi Pedestal Fund in 1883, before the statue was erected (“Here at our sea-washed sunset gates shall stand, etc”), but it was not inscribed on a plaque inside the statue's pedestal until 1903.

The statue had been administered by first the Lighthouse Bureau, and then it was transferred to the War Department.

The tablet was the gift of Georgina Schuyler, a New York philanthropist who was a friend of Emma Lazarus', but who didn't even know about the sonnet until she found it in a bookshop years after Emma Lazarus' death.

Georgina Schuyler was descended from the Dutch founders of New York, and was a direct descendant of Alexander Hamilton. She didn't consecrate this tablet to the concept of unrestricted immigration but rather "in loving memory of Emma Lazarus."

The Statue of Liberty didn't become an official national monument until 1924. Bedloe's Island (renamed Liberty Island in 1956), is Federal territory, "the former site of a quarantine station and harbor fortifications."

A Letter to the World
From
An American

Lo! Ye of the ‘tired, poor, and huddled masses’ . . .
Hark! Ye of the ‘wretched refuse of your teeming shores’ . . .

Be warned . . .

Those of yours, who came before, have here shed their blood and sweat for their chosen land.
Those who first stepped upon these shores now stand fast on their solid nation.
Suffer ye not to scar their honor or to weaken the golden bonds of their patriotism.
Stand erect on this land, breath the freedom fruit of their labors, and then carve it into your souls.
This is the chosen land of your forefathers and of all who fled the world’s evils. Know it as that. Love it as that. Protect it with your life as did all before you.

Our forefathers came to these shores, each with an asset of life, and a hard honed work ethic, all to be contributed as their offering for passage upon this soil.
“Let me come ashore, and I will build whatever is needed.” They prayed.
Each asset was individual, separate and unique, to be layered together into the indestructible fabric of this great nation. Together they applied their own assets, abilities, skills, sweat and blood, shingling this country with an armor of strength and quality never before known in the entire world. They used only the finest of skills brought from their homelands and disregarded those inferior. When all did this, there were no defects to repair. Each compared his skills with others, and together, they chose only the best offered. Then, as one, they hammered out the greatest foundation known to civilization.
Each shingle, a different nationality; each slate, a different religion; each nail, a different race; Strike at any part of this house, and you strike at us all. Strike at any American, and you strike at a citizen of the world.
All nationalities, religions, races, etc. worked side by side, most speaking in strange tongues, looking toward their chosen country with strength and desire. They did not waste time bickering over race or religion. They went to work and built what had to be built. They gradually forgot their ‘old country’ differences as they found more desirable assets within their new land, and then discovered the joy of laughter with each other as they labored. This became the work ethic that was the formula for America. The American laughed while he worked, and his sweat . . . welded this nation together.
“Feed me Freedom to eat and breath, and I will build you an indestructible nation. I may not know what works, but I do know what doesn’t. Follow me,” they offered, “and I will lead you around those foot traps.”
Our forefathers knew what didn’t work. They left their birth countries because of it. Here, fueled only by Freedom, each carried his own end of the log despite the language barrier. Each man knew this was the only chance he had left. Whether he understood his work partner or not, together they would dig a pit, fall a tree, hew and saw the great trunks for their homes. And when they finished, each understood the other, for they were now Americans . . . and God help anyone who interfered with them or coveted the fruits of their labors. So, to those who would attempt to disturb our national morals and ethics, and to take from us our assets, remember this . . .

If the world has forgotten who America is, then let the world remember. Let the world recall and contemplate the bloodlines of America. Let all who care, write on the wall of life, a list of the origins of the American. They will find that there is no place on this planet, no country or nation, city or hamlet, religion or race, that did not contribute to America, their own citizens of fame and fortune, evil and infamy. America is a nation of the world’s people. America is made up of the good and bad, the famous and infamous, the vague and ingenious, the rich and poor, the meek and the lion hearted, from every corner of the earth. All Americans remember from whence they came, and all remember why they’re here. All Americans carry within their basic chemistry, the memory of pain, suffering, hunger and thirst, bondage and evil, but, along with those memories, these same Americans carry with them their forefathers’ formula for the destruction of those evils. It’s imprinted in our DNA.
Do nations around the world really think that Americans are of a single nationality, as are all other nations? Do nations of the world really believe that Americans are a different and purely separate nationality? Have nations of the world forgotten that America is a conglomeration of the worlds’ dissatisfied, disgruntled, ex-citizens of their own countries? And that Americans are the vaccinated of the world’s evils? Have nations of the world forgotten that they are dealing with their own blood when they upset and disturb the American? We are unique, dammit! We are the inoculated citizens of the world.
So, may I remind the evil doers of the world, NOT to awaken the sleeping giant, for that giant is of your own flesh, your own blood, your own mind, and he knows your secrets, and he knows how to destroy you. So, go play your games elsewhere and leave this sleeping giant be.

J. Vincent Dugas
jvdugas@aol.com