Alternate Locations for Statue of Liberty

Zachariah

Banned
Well, IOTL, Laboulaye announced the project and the formation of the Franco-American Union as its fundraising arm; during his second trip to the United States, Bartholdi addressed a number of groups about the project, and urged the formation of American committees of the Franco-American Union, to raise money to pay for the foundation and pedestal. These were eventually formed in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia; and it was the New York committee which managed to raise the most funding, and thus secure the location for the statue in New York Harbor, on Bedloe Island. So, Philadelphia (Fairmont Park, the site where the torch arm of the Statue of Liberty was first showcased in 1876) or Boston (one of the islands in Boston Harbor) would be the 2nd and 3rd most likely alternate locations for the Statue of Liberty. But in an ATL, you could have practically any city with a large enough and wealthy enough Franco-American community establishing a committee of its own, and a charismatic figure managing to raise more funding faster than the New York committee manages to. Having said that though, Laboulaye's fervent support for the unionists and his abolitionist views make a site in the former Confederate territories (such as New Orleans, Jacksonville or Charleston) unlikely.
 
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