Six years after the 1865 dinner party, Bartholdi began work on the statue. Two things had kept him from starting. First, France was under the tight grip of Napoleon III, who didn’t want to celebrate liberty.
Second, in 1870, France and Germany were fighting the Franco-Prussian War, and Bartholdi had enlisted.
After the war ended in 1871, Bartholdi went back to thinking about the monument. Laboulaye asked him to travel to the U.S. to see the country. He also wanted Bartholdi to find out what the American people thought about the idea of the statue.
On June 8, 1871, Bartholdi set sail for New York. Many of the people on board the ship were immigrants, looking to find a new life in America. As the ship approached New York, the passengers climbed on deck, eager for their first look at America. Bartholdi, too, couldn’t wait to see the country. As he looked ahead, he saw Bedloe’s Island guarding the entrance to New York Harbor. Bartholdi immediately knew he had found the perfect home for his statue.
