The Statue of Liberty was a gift of goodwill to the United States of America by France, shortly after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, when France itself, became a republic.
The Cornerstone of the structure was laid by Officers of the Grand Lodge of New York, with Masonic rites on August 5th 1884.
Bro. Frederick Auguste Bartholdi, another Mason, designed the statue, which was completed in four years, and unveiled on August 28 1886.