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.