<P> According to the National Park Service , the idea for the Statue of Liberty was first proposed by Édouard René de Laboulaye the president of the French Anti-Slavery Society and a prominent and important political thinker of his time . The project is traced to a mid-1865 conversation between de Laboulaye , a staunch abolitionist and Frédéric Bartholdi , a sculptor . In after - dinner conversation at his home near Versailles , Laboulaye , an ardent supporter of the Union in the American Civil War , is supposed to have said : `` If a monument should rise in the United States , as a memorial to their independence , I should think it only natural if it were built by united effort -- a common work of both our nations . '' The National Park Service , in a 2000 report , however , deemed this a legend traced to an 1885 fundraising pamphlet , and that the statue was most likely conceived in 1870 . In another essay on their website , the Park Service suggested that Laboulaye was minded to honor the Union victory and its consequences , `` With the abolition of slavery and the Union 's victory in the Civil War in 1865 , Laboulaye 's wishes of freedom and democracy were turning into a reality in the United States . In order to honor these achievements , Laboulaye proposed that a gift be built for the United States on behalf of France . Laboulaye hoped that by calling attention to the recent achievements of the United States , the French people would be inspired to call for their own democracy in the face of a repressive monarchy . '' </P>
<P> According to the National Park Service , the idea for the Statue of Liberty was first proposed by Édouard René de Laboulaye the president of the French Anti-Slavery Society and a prominent and important political thinker of his time . The project is traced to a mid-1865 conversation between de Laboulaye , a staunch abolitionist and Frédéric Bartholdi , a sculptor . In after - dinner conversation at his home near Versailles , Laboulaye , an ardent supporter of the Union in the American Civil War , is supposed to have said : `` If a monument should rise in the United States , as a memorial to their independence , I should think it only natural if it were built by united effort -- a common work of both our nations . '' The National Park Service , in a 2000 report , however , deemed this a legend traced to an 1885 fundraising pamphlet , and that the statue was most likely conceived in 1870 . In another essay on their website , the Park Service suggested that Laboulaye was minded to honor the Union victory and its consequences , `` With the abolition of slavery and the Union 's victory in the Civil War in 1865 , Laboulaye 's wishes of freedom and democracy were turning into a reality in the United States . In order to honor these achievements , Laboulaye proposed that a gift be built for the United States on behalf of France . Laboulaye hoped that by calling attention to the recent achievements of the United States , the French people would be inspired to call for their own democracy in the face of a repressive monarchy . '' </P>
when was the statue of liberty thought of
when was the statue of liberty thought of
mid-1865
mid-1865