"Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)"

 

Thomas Jefferson one of the American President of  the  past  was

born in Virginia in 1743. When he was 14 years  old,  his  father

died and the young boy was left to choose for himself what to do.

Jefferson studied literature and languages. He also studied to be

a lawyer, and later he wrote many of the Virginia  laws.  One  of

the laws for which he worked very much was a law  to  allow  many

child to go to school free. Schools in America were only for  the

children whose parents were rich.  When  Jefferson  was  still  a

young man he was one of those who wanted  freedom  from  England.

His most outstanding  archivment  was  as  chief  author  of  the

Declaration of Independence, a  statement  of  human  rights  and

liberties. It was read to the happy people on the  4th  of  July,

1776. Jefferson also drew up  the  constitution  for  his  state,

Virginia, and served as its governor. He was sent  to  France  as

the  foreign  minister  of  the  United  States  of  America  and

afterwards was President's Washington secretary of state.  A  few

years later he became the country's third president,  serving  in

this position for 2 terms.  The  author  of  the  Declaration  of

Independence did another important thing for the American people.

He worked out a plan for a  university  where  the  students  and

teachers could live and work together  in  a  village  build  for

them. It was one of the first schools to teach science. Today, it

is the university of Virginia. This well known  man  was  also  a

self-tought architect. He introduced the simple classical  design

to America when he designed the Virginia State Capital  Building.

He also designed his own home, he remained the  most  influencial

architect of his time. Thomas Jefferson did  many  useful  things

during his life time  and  he  always  thought  of  how  to  help

ordinary people. He was a  practical  and  theoretical  scientist

too. Jefferson's best traditions have been kept  up  by  American

prograssive people in their struggle for peace and democracy.