One of the aspirations of the French inventor to make national symbol (7,4)
I believe the answer is:
liberty bell
'national symbol' is the definition.
(symbol of the USA)
'one of the aspirations of the french inventor' is the wordplay.
'one of the aspirations of the french' becomes 'liberty' (France's motto is 'libert, galit, fraternit').
'inventor' becomes 'bell' (I've seen this before).
'liberty'+'bell'='LIBERTY BELL'
'to make' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for liberty bell that I've seen before include "symbolic of America" , "Philadelphia tourist attraction" , "clanger in Philadelphia" .)