The Statue of Liberty was conceived as a symbol of friendship between France and the United States, commemorating the alliance forged during the American Revolution. French historian Édouard de Laboulaye proposed the idea in 1865, and sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi designed the monument.
There is no historical evidence that France offered the statue to any other nation. The project was specifically intended for the U.S., funded by French citizens, and dedicated in New York Harbor on October 28, 1886.