The Statue of Liberty is owned by the United States federal government, not by New York or New Jersey. The island it stands on sits in waters closer to the New Jersey shoreline, but Liberty Island itself has been under New York’s state jurisdiction since 1834, and the monument and surrounding land have been federal property for far longer than that. The National Park Service manages the site on behalf of the public.
Federal Ownership of the Statue and the Island
Congress authorized the president to accept the statue from France through a joint resolution approved on March 3, 1877. That resolution gave the executive branch authority to receive the gift, pick a site in New York Harbor, and arrange for the statue’s long-term care as both a navigational beacon and a work of art.1U.S. Government Publishing Office. Senate Report No. 1280 The U.S. minister to France formally accepted the statue on July 4, 1884, along with a deed of presentation from the Franco-American Union that is still kept in Department of State archives. President Grover Cleveland dedicated the monument on October 28, 1886. From that date forward, no French entity has held any residual claim.
The island beneath the statue was already federal land. Known then as Bedloe’s Island, it housed Fort Wood, a stone fortification built in 1807 to defend New York Harbor, and the star-shaped remnants of that fort still form the base the statue stands on.2National Park Service. Fort Wood (Liberty Island) and Fort Gibson (Ellis Island) Because the site was an active War Department installation, no land purchase or condemnation was needed to build the pedestal.
President Calvin Coolidge used the Antiquities Act of 1906 to declare the statue and roughly two and a half surrounding acres a national monument on October 15, 1924. In 1933 the site was transferred from the War Department to the National Park Service, and Congress renamed Bedloe’s Island to Liberty Island in 1956.3National Park Service. Statue of Liberty National Monument There is no private deed to the property, no corporate shareholder, and no legal mechanism for selling it.
Why People Think New Jersey Owns It
The confusion is geographic. Liberty Island sits in the Upper New York Bay closer to Jersey City than to Manhattan, so visitors reasonably assume New Jersey must own it. The answer lies in an interstate compact adopted in 1834, which settled a long-running boundary dispute between the two states. The compact placed the state line down the middle of the Hudson River and New York Harbor, but it carved out an explicit exception for the harbor islands. New York retained exclusive jurisdiction over Bedloe’s Island, Ellis Island, and the other islands it then controlled. The compact text says New York “shall retain its present jurisdiction of and over Bedlow’s and Ellis’ islands.”4Council of State Governments. New York New Jersey Boundary Compact
The Supreme Court revisited the harbor boundary in New Jersey v. New York, 523 U.S. 767 (1998), but that case concerned the filled portions of Ellis Island, most of which went to New Jersey. Liberty Island’s status was never in dispute, and both states agreed that New York’s jurisdiction over the island was intact.5Justia Law. New Jersey v New York, 523 US 767 (1998) So state law questions on the island are answered by New York law, not New Jersey law, even though the federal government holds the underlying property.
Who Actually Runs the Site
The National Park Service, a bureau of the Department of the Interior, is the custodial agency. Its authority comes from 54 U.S.C. § 100101, which directs the agency to promote public use of national park sites while conserving them unimpaired for future generations.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 54 USC 100101 – Promotion and Regulation Every structural repair and operational decision is subject to congressional oversight and federal preservation standards.
Law enforcement on the island is handled by the United States Park Police, a federal unit within the National Park Service. Park Police officers investigate suspected federal offenses, operate the vehicle checkpoints and screening at the ferry terminals, and sweep the grounds for unattended property.7National Park Service. Meet the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island K-9s No municipal or state police agency has primary jurisdiction on Liberty Island, which is why visitors go through airport-style screening before boarding the ferry.
Because the statue is federal property, damaging or defacing it is a federal crime. Under 18 U.S.C. § 1361, damaging government property worth more than $1,000 carries up to ten years in prison and a fine; damage of $1,000 or less carries up to one year.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 US Code 1361 – Government Property or Contracts Visitor conduct on all National Park Service land is also governed by Title 36 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
The Foundation Is Not an Owner
A separate source of confusion is the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, a nonprofit that has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for the monument. The foundation owns none of the statue, none of the island, and no part of the physical site. It has no decision-making authority over federal land. Its role is philanthropic: raising private money and directing it toward specific capital projects approved by the National Park Service.9National Park Service. Partners – Ellis Island – Section: The Statue of Liberty – Ellis Island Foundation
The partnership began in 1982, when President Ronald Reagan asked Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca to lead a private fundraising campaign for the statue’s centennial restoration. The foundation that grew out of that effort has since funded the Statue of Liberty Museum, developed the Ellis Island passenger search database of more than 65 million records, and paid for hundreds of preservation projects. The site itself remains entirely under government control.