Columbia

Groseclose's article on symbols, specifically what we read about Columbia, make them come off almost as if they're organic. Depending on their environment and who they interact with they change and over time can even evolve into completely new identities. In Columbia's case, she started as a Native American woman warrior, representing the wild perception of all the Americas from before they were explored. Her fierce nature embodied the fear of the those still in Europe. As more people came over the fear of the wild dwindled slightly, and as that fear waned Colubmia become more westernized, more slender, beautiful, and delicate. Instead of a symbol of intense ferocity she represented one of liberty. While that is still a noble ideal, she lost the edge she had before. All that remained of her intensity were the feathers, remnants of a symbol long changed.
The fact that she had Native American feathers shows the fascination that Americans had with the early inhabitants of this land. To many back then they represented a fierce spirit that many Americans harbored within themselves, and may have brought to America to unleash to fight for freedom. It's all part of a symbolic cycle we all participate in without even realizing it.