Editing Levi P. Morton (section)

===Minister to France===
During the 1880 campaign, Morton and other Stalwarts believed that Garfield had committed to appoint Morton as [[United States Secretary of the Treasury|Secretary of the Treasury]].<ref name="SenateHistorian"/> After Garfield won, they were incensed when he claimed he had never made such a promise.<ref name="SenateHistorian"/> As a consolation, Garfield offered Morton appointment as [[United States Secretary of the Navy|Secretary of the Navy]].<ref name="SenateHistorian"/> Morton initially accepted, but then declined after Conkling advised him to turn it down.<ref name="Red_Book"/><ref name="SenateHistorian"/>

After Morton declined to join the cabinet, Garfield appointed him as [[List of ambassadors of the United States to France|Minister to France]].<ref name="Red_Book"/><ref name="SenateHistorian"/> Morton accepted, and served from 1881 to 1885, continuing in office after Garfield was assassinated and Arthur became president.<ref name="SenateHistorian"/>

Morton was very popular in France.<ref name="Red_Book"/> He helped commercial relations between the two countries run smoothly during his term, and in Paris on October 24, 1881, he placed the first rivet in the construction of the [[Statue of Liberty]].<ref name="Red_Book"/> After completion of the statue, he accepted it on behalf of the United States in a ceremony on July 4, 1884, when he signed an agreement with the Union Franco Americaine, the organization formed in France to finance the creation of the statue.<ref>{{cite book |last=U.S. House of Representatives |date=1885 |title=Executive Documents of the House of Representatives |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a4IZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA159 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |pages=159–160 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>