It was created by Moses Jacob Ezekiel, a B'nai B'rith member and the first American Jewish sculptor to gain international prominence.

It comprises four figures, the principal one representing the Goddess of Liberty, dressed in coat of mail and a mantle, with a shield, having the American flag in relief on her breast.

At the feet of the Goddess, on her left, is Intolerance, represented by a monstrous serpent, part of the body of which is coiled around the fasces, while its head protrudes with gaping jaws from under the garment of Liberty.

[1]In his Memoirs, Ezekiel described how the block of marble occupied two freight cars, and took twenty men "several days" to move it from the railway station to his studio, the iron chain of a derrick having snapped.

[2]: 187  Nevertheless, having created the clay model, and this being the first ever Jewish commission for a sculpture, with a guaranteed place at the Centennial Exposition, he decided to continue work.