In 1855, the US Congress authorized the design and building of a new cast iron dome on the capitol building in Washington D.C. The original architect imagined the dome being topped by a monumental statue that would be a symbol for the morals of the young country. But exactly what that statue would look like proved to be a difficult decision.
In 1900 century art, it would have common to expect the statue to wear or hold a knitted liberty cap. A liberty cap was a symbol of freedom from slavery dating back to ancient Rome. In ancient Rome, a slave would be given a knitted liberty cap in a ceremony to free them from their bondage, and the liberty cap had been adopted as a symbol for freedom during the American & French Revolutions. However, not everyone who had input on the design of the statue felt that the liberty cap was an appropriate symbol for the top of the capital, which may seem odd since the capitol building is an enduring symbol of a country who is known as the land of the free and the home of the brave. It begins to make sense that the person who had the final decision on the design was then Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis.
Jefferson Davis opposed the use of the liberty cap in the design of the statue because "its history renders it inappropriate to a people who were born free and should not be enslaved." It could also be argued that it would have been ironic to have a capital building topped by a statue extolling freedom, when it presided over a country that held slavery close to its identity. Although it seems that Jefferson Davis did not see the irony in that situation, although he was a slave holder himself.
Another design that was objected by Jefferson Davis was a female figure wearing a wreath of wheat and laurel as "Freedom triumphant—in Peace and War." However, Jefferson Davis felt that the statue focused to much on peace, and he felt that at certain times a country must be ready to fight to preserve its peace, and that should be reflected as well.
However, it wasn't like Jefferson Davis just rejected ideas without giving feedback on what he thought the design should incorporate. Davis suggested a helmet with a circle of stars. In response, Crawford designed a crested version of a Roman helmet, "the crest of which is composed of an eagle’s head and a bold arrangement of feathers, suggested by the costume of our Indian tribes." This third design was approved by Jefferson Davis in April 1856. This is the design that still graces the top of the capital building today.
This final design stands 19 feet 6 inches tall and weighs approximately 15,000 pounds. The Statue of Freedom is a classical female figure with long, flowing hair wearing a helmet with a crest composed of an eagle’s head and feathers. She wears a classical dress secured with a brooch inscribed "U.S." 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 13 stripes.
The helmet (which was the focus of much debate) is encircled by nine stars. 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 topped with a globe encircled with the motto E Pluribus Unum (Out of many, one). The lower part of the pedestal is decorated with fasces (symbols of the authority of government) and wreaths. The pedestal is 18-1/2 feet high and almost doubles the total height. The crest of Freedom’s headdress rises 288 feet above the East Front Plaza.
It would be less than 4 years after Jefferson Davis approved the design for this statue that he would resign his position in the US Congress to become the President of the newly formed Confederate States in 1861. Less than a year before his resignation, in 1860, construction on the statue would begin, being completed by 1862 at a cost of over $23,000. Adding to the irony between the symbolism of the statue, and the reality of the morals that the statue represented, the statue was finished with the assistance of an enslaved man, Phillip Reid. The statue would be temporarily displayed on the capitol ground before being raised to its final resting place. The final section of the statue would be put into place on December 2, 1863, to a salute of 35 guns answered by the guns of 12 forts around Washington.
Did you know this story of the statue on top of the capitol?