Sorry about that link, McGrath...it worked for me. It was a political cartoon from 1865 showing Britannia comforting Columbia. Nothing terribly enlightening.

Anyway, here's another one, this time to a WWI commemorative poster at the Hoover Institute: Columbia. Apparently the notion did survive into the 20th century, although it never gained overwhelming popularity.

But back to the Statue of Liberty. Personally I never saw the thing as a nationalist symbol per se, but as a human one: the goddess of liberty showing the way to a place where freedom reigned, not personifying that place. I wish it were true, but I digress...

At any rate, here's a quote from the U.S, state dept., courtesy of factmonster.com, along with the Emma Lazarus' poem that appears on the statue's pedestal. Lazarus named her "Mother of Exiles," as you'll see.

"The Jewish American poet Emma Lazarus saw the statue as a beacon to the world. A poem she wrote to help raise money for the pedestal, and which is carved on that pedestal, captured what the statue came to mean to the millions who migrated to the United States seeking freedom, and who have continued to come unto this day."

–The U.S. Department of State

"The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"