Also known as Columbia, after which the District of Columbia is named, and Marianne in France, the Roman goddess, Libertas, rises high above the United States Capitol Dome. Originally called ‘Freedom Triumphant in War and Peace’, today she is known as the Statue of Freedom. 

Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy, demanded that the sculptor remove the Liberty/Phrygian Cap, an old Roman symbol of an emancipated slave. The Statue was created just before the outbreak of the American Civil War, and slavery was a massive issue at the time, hence the pushback against Freedom wearing the symbol associated with emancipated slaves. 

The artist replaced the cap with an American eagle headdress, and draped the goddess in a Native Indian style blanket. She holds a sheathed sword in her right hand, and a laurel wreath and shield in her left. She faces east toward the rising sun, and stands on a globe inscribed with the national motto, E pluribus unum, Out of many, one. 

The Statue of Freedom -1863, is also closely associated with the Goddesses Minerva and Athena. The Goddess of Liberty – 1888, adorns the Texas State Capitol in Austin, as does Miss Freedom – 1889, on the Georgia State Capitol. Miss Freedom even wears a Liberty Cap. The most famous example of Libertas is of course the Statue of Liberty found in New York. LIBERTY ENLIGHTENING THE WORLD – 1886.