General Discussion

Coyotl

(15,262 posts) Mon Dec 2, 2013, 04:46 PM Dec 2013

United States Capitol's Statue Of Freedom was placed atop the Dome on this day in 1863.

United States Capitol's album - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.604214202948752.1073741854.138819462821564&type=1

The Statue of Freedom has stood atop the United States Capitol Dome since 1863. Hoisted into place while the country was divided by the Civil War, the bronze statue designed and sculpted by American sculptor Thomas Crawford was created as the crowning feature of the building’s new cast-iron Dome.

The statue depicts a classical female figure with long, flowing hair wearing a helmet with a crest composed of an eagle’s head and feathers. The helmet is encircled by nine stars. She wears a graceful classical dress secured with a brooch inscribed “US.” Over it is draped a heavy, flowing, toga-like robe fringed with fur and decorative balls. Her right hand rests upon the hilt of a sheathed sword wrapped in a scarf; in her left hand she holds a laurel wreath of victory and the shield of the United States with thirteen stripes. Ten bronze points tipped with platinum are attached to her headdress, shoulders, and shield for protection from lightning.

She stands on a cast-iron pedestal on a globe encircled with the motto “E Pluribus Unum.” The lower part of the pedestal is decorated with fasces (symbols of the authority of government) and wreaths. Late in 1863, the statue was hoisted in sections to the top of the Dome and assembled on the cast-iron pedestal. The final section, the figure’s head and shoulders, was raised on December 2, 1863, to a salute of 35 guns, representing the number of states at the time, answered by the guns of the 12 forts around Washington.

STATUE OF FREEDOM FACTS
Height: 19½ feet tall
Height Above East Plaza: 288 feet
Weight: approx. 15,000 lbs
Pedestal Height: 18½ feet tall
Sculptor: Thomas Crawford
Founder: Clark Mills
Placed On Dome: December 2, 1863
Restoration: 1993, with periodic maintenance

http://go.usa.gov/W6jC

9 replies

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United States Capitol's Statue Of Freedom was placed atop the Dome on this day in 1863. (Original Post) Coyotl Dec 2013 OP

Philip Reid, an enslaved man forged the Statue of Freedom but was a free man when it was installed. Brother Buzz Dec 2013 #1

Excellent addition, a slave casting the statue of freedom. So very American!! Coyotl Dec 2013 #2

I don't get it Art_from_Ark Dec 2013 #5

I guess because he was in DC working on the Capital. Coyotl Dec 2013 #7

It still doesn't make much sense to me Art_from_Ark Dec 2013 #8

He was the only qualified person and that is how he ends up in DC. Coyotl Dec 2013 #9

The sculptor, Thomas Crawford tina tron Dec 2013 #3

kick Coyotl Dec 2013 #4

K&R thanks for the history, C Cha Dec 2013 #6

Brother Buzz

(36,439 posts)

1. Philip Reid, an enslaved man forged the Statue of Freedom but was a free man when it was installed.

Reply to Coyotl (Original post)

Mon Dec 2, 2013, 05:13 PM

Dec 2013

Built By Slaves: A Capitol History Lesson

<snip>

MARTIN: And does Freedom have a connection to the story of African-Americans?

Mr. BEUTTLER: That's one of the most exciting stories in the history of the Capitol because what you have is an American sculptor, Thomas Crawford, who was there over in France was given the commission. And he made a plaster model and then shipped it over to the United States. Well, no one was able to take apart the plaster model in order to forge the bronze statue except for one man by the name of Philip Reid.

Philip Reid was an enslaved African-American owned by Clark Mills of South Carolina. And that Statue of Freedom was actually raised up on December 2nd, 1863 into the top of the dome. And what's exciting is that Philip Reid was actually, by that point, a free man because in April of 1862 - April 16th is when the D.C. Emancipation Bill passed. And so Philip Reid, the slave who actually forges the Statue of Freedom, by the time it becomes to the top of this Capitol dome, he's a free man.

MARTIN: That is a great story. And I - you do wonder, is there any written record of his feelings about all this? I mean, a man working on the Statue of Freedom who was himself not free, at least at the time he began, and then became free. Do we have any sense of how he felt about that?

Mr. BEUTTLER: Yeah, we don't have any firsthand accounts of what his feelings were and the irony of an enslaved man forging the Statue of Freedom.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99549328

Coyotl

(15,262 posts)

2. Excellent addition, a slave casting the statue of freedom. So very American!!

Reply to Brother Buzz (Reply #1)

Mon Dec 2, 2013, 06:26 PM

Dec 2013

The Capital of a nation built on genocide being built by slaves. Now that's what I call heritage!

Art_from_Ark

(27,247 posts)

5. I don't get it

Reply to Coyotl (Reply #2)

Tue Dec 3, 2013, 03:35 AM

Dec 2013

If Reid had been owned by a slaveholder in South Carolina, how did he become a freeman as a result of the DC Emancipation Bill of April 1862?

Coyotl

(15,262 posts)

7. I guess because he was in DC working on the Capital.

Reply to Art_from_Ark (Reply #5)

Tue Dec 3, 2013, 11:43 AM

Dec 2013

Apparently, he was the only qualified person they could find to do the difficult work.

Art_from_Ark

(27,247 posts)

8. It still doesn't make much sense to me

Reply to Coyotl (Reply #7)

Tue Dec 3, 2013, 05:16 PM

Dec 2013

A slave from a state that seceded in December 1860 somehow remains in Washington DC until April 1862, and somehow acquires enough skills that he is the only qualified person to do difficult work?

Coyotl

(15,262 posts)

9. He was the only qualified person and that is how he ends up in DC.

Reply to Art_from_Ark (Reply #8)

Tue Dec 3, 2013, 07:12 PM

Dec 2013

Being skilled at something does not preclude being a slave. And he had the skills needed before this project came into being, so he was the person doing the job. Apparently, noone else was as skilled as this man.

tina tron

(160 posts)

3. The sculptor, Thomas Crawford

Reply to Coyotl (Original post)

Mon Dec 2, 2013, 06:33 PM

Dec 2013

also sculpted the Washington monument in Richmond Virginia and a likeness of the statue was featured on the Great Seal of the Confederate States of America.

Coyotl

(15,262 posts)

4. kick

Reply to Coyotl (Original post)

Tue Dec 3, 2013, 02:02 AM

Dec 2013

Cha

(297,252 posts)

6. K&R thanks for the history, C

Reply to Coyotl (Original post)

Tue Dec 3, 2013, 03:42 AM

Dec 2013

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