While Bartholdi was building and assembling the Statue of Liberty in Paris, a huge controversy broke out in America over the base for the statue. A design by Richard Morris Hunt had been selected, but there was the issue of money.
The publisher of the New York World newspaper, Joseph Pulitzer, spearheaded a drive to raise money to build the pedestal. Children across America sent pennies, others gave what they could afford, and $100,000 was raised.
Construction of the pedestal finally began in the summer of 1884, and a ceremony to lay the cornerstone was held on August 6, 1884.
