Bartholdi and Laboulaye considered how best to express the idea of American liberty.
[22] In early American history, two female figures were frequently used as cultural symbols of the nation.
[23] One of these symbols, the personified
Columbia, was seen as an embodiment of the United States in the manner that
Britannia was identified with the United Kingdom, and
Marianne came to represent France. Columbia had supplanted the traditional European
personification of the Americas as an "Indian princess", which had come to be regarded as uncivilized and derogatory toward Americans.
[23] The other significant female icon in American culture was a representation of
Liberty, derived from
Libertas, the
goddess of freedom widely worshipped in
ancient Rome, especially among
emancipated slaves. A Liberty figure adorned most
American coins of the time,
[22] and representations of Liberty appeared in popular and civic art, including
Thomas Crawford's
Statue of Freedom (1863) atop the dome of the
United States Capitol Building.
[22]
The statue's design envokes iconography evident in ancient history including the Egyptian goddess
Isis, the ancient Greek deity of the same name, the Roman Columbia and the Christian iconography of the
Virgin Mary.
[24][25]
