Abstract
Last week the New York City Council voted unanimously to remove a statue of Thomas Jefferson from the Council chamber in City Hall. The decision was not a surprise; Black and Latino lawmakers have long lobbied for its removal, given Jefferson's tarnished history as the owner of some 600 humans. Amid the debate over race, history and the statue, it is important to understand the reason Jefferson was placed there in the first place. Uriah P. Levy, the Jewish naval hero who donated the statue, by Pierre-Jean David d'Angers, in 1834, intended it to serve as a symbol of religious liberty.