The Birth of Lady Freedom

Lady Freedom is the face of Freedom and she lives atop the Capitol dome in Washington hidden in plain sight. So few see her or know who she is. To understand more of who she is, we look to her past in the mid-nineteenth century and the four men who brought her into physical existence.


The appointed architect was, Thomas U. Walter, Secretary of War. Jefferson Davis, a Union brigadier general, was in charge of the Capitol’s Extension construction, and then there was Montgomery C. Meigs, the engineer and the person in charge of the Capitol’s commissions.  


Each added their own influences to her creation, some more than others, but it was surely the sculptor, Thomas Crawford who brought the Statue of Freedom to life. Under his skillful hands and careful eye, he worked diligently with her persona and some say, her spirit. 


Crawford was commissioned to create her on May 11, 1855 while he was living in Rome, Italy. Meigs wrote, "We have too many Washingtons, we have America in the pediment. Victories and Liberties are rather pagan emblems, but a Liberty I fear is the best we can get.”


He wanted her to be larger than life - an identity for the United States that would challenge the best of European statues of the day. Crawford imagined her in three sketches and clay models. These images were sent back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean from Rome to the three men in Washington. 


The first attempts to capture her identity is noticeably the more classic and gentle of the three called, “Freedom triumphant—in Peace and War.” A wreath of wheat and laurel crowned her head in victory and she carried a large olive branch (the Athenian symbol of peace), in her left hand. 


Her right hand holds a sword, symbol of strength and courage in war, and yet we note it is sheathed and pointed downward in peace. Her right hand also held a shield representative of the United States. There were no stars on her head and laurel wreaths of victory were fashioned at her feet. But this model was to be discarded.


As these four men focused on this female entity to manifest, they were subject to their own pre-conceived notions of goddesses and icons and symbols from their personal lives, histories, education and home environment. They had ideas of what they wanted and what they didn’t want, and they imagined what would be right for the country.  


All is energy before physical matter, and thoughts are energy that manifest into physical form. In the creative process, the artist is not separate from his or her art. Not only was Lady Freedom fashioned by these four men, the influence of the time and place was surely to have had its powerful effects.


The east coast of the then very young United States was the turning point of the world; a convergence of human potential that had never before been seen. Those seeking freedom of mind and spirit, body and soul, were absolutely in love and impassioned to find a new way of life and living and yet, at the same time, horrific human conditions abounded: slavery, torture, poverty and terrible disease.


But the hope must have been palatable; the bread and water for every man and woman who came ashore. The country was just beginning the American Dream, and in its hunger — devoured the wild and free Native American Princess. With her strength, her beauty and her sexuality, she dominated the minds and eyes of new America, and most assuredly - influenced what was to stand atop the Capitol dome. 


The second design, after Meigs sent a different sketch, was named “Armed Liberty.” More imperialistic in tone and structure, her stance had noticeably changed. She now appeared stronger and larger and stood on a globe. 


The globe represented America, and or the world, with a signature phrase, E Pluribus Unum that translates to, Out of many, one. Her left hand held both the shield of country and a full laurel wreath of victory. But what was noticeably different was her head….


Nine five-pointed stars surrounded her head. The number nine was, and still is, symbolic and significant in esoteric and philosophical circles associated with spiritual growth and universal love due to it being the highest integer in our numerical system. 


The crowning laurel and wheat was omitted for a phrygian cap; that which evolved into the liberty cap. The cap historically worn by slaves who had won their freedom from classical Greek and Roman times up to the French Revolution.


Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis who controlled the Capitol’s construction, received the new image and immediately argued against the liberty cap. This is known as the controversy of the Statue of Freedom. He claimed that those born in America were born free and had never been enslaved, thus he found the liberty cap to be inappropriate. Davis suggested to Crawford to replace the cap with a helmet.


In the third design, Crawford took the helmet idea and made a crest at its top, similar to Minerva’s, the sun goddess’s helmet, but then made it entirely unique and powerful by adding the full head of an eagle with feathers and talons. 


The Bald Eagle is reflective of America’s Indigenous peoples’ spiritual strength and honors the relationship between heaven and earth. The bird is also a known power-symbol for Rome and the Old World, but somehow all of that fell away when placed upon the head of Lady Freedom. Perhaps it was in those moments, that she became America, sovereign and free.


This last and final approved design was (and is) called, America - Statue of Freedom. Meigs approved it April 1856 and she was raised atop the Captol dome by Abraham Lincoln December 2, 1863 while the Civil War raged.


The unfortunate part of the story is what happened to Thomas Crawford, the genteel and talented sculptor. He passed away in 1857 in London, before the statue even left his studio. His wife, however saw to the many arrangements needed to move Lady Freedom - in six pieces - across the Atlantic Ocean from Italy to America. Thomas Crawford is noted to have been buried in an unmarked grave at Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. 


Author
Kristen Farquhar
Lady Freedom Circle
www.somaticsoundtherapeutics.com


To learn more of this story and the life of Lady Freedom,
please see Katya Miller’s website and article,
https://www.katyamiller.com/_files/ugd/1a18f1_ee6340c5b4b1455ab512f9e088569c1f.pdf


Lady Freedom & The Rising of Humanity
https://youtu.be/M3OGPO5WTBI?si=5HOM5wU0UOyyF9TZ





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