Thomas Jefferson

When Thomas Jefferson was born in 1743, the United States didn't exist yet. He was born in Virginia when it still belonged to Britain. There were colonies, or subject states, that belonged to Britain. Other areas of America belonged to France and Spain or were unexplored.

As a child, Jefferson loved to read and learn about many things. He studied French, Latin and Greek and learned to play the violin. Education was an important part of Jefferson's life.

When Jefferson was 17, he went to college. He studied history, literature, biology and writing. Because he loved to learn, he studied very hard and was always asking questions. In only two years, he had learned all he could at college. He left to study law and became a lawyer.

Jefferson was a good lawyer, but he liked taking care of his farm more. He built a house on his farm and called it Monticello. Though he had only learned about designing buildings from books, Jefferson's home was beautifully designed and still stands today.

Because Jefferson was well educated and owned a big farm, he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses when he was only 26. The House of Burgesses represented the people of Virginia in government.

Jefferson and other people in the House of Burgesses felt very strongly that the American colonies must be independent. They thought that Britain taxed the American colonists too much and treated them badly. They knew that many colonists felt the same way and that something had to be done.

In 1774, colonists met at the First Continental Congress. They decided not to buy anything from Britain and to form an army. The colonists declared war on Britain a short time later. The Revolutionary War had started.

At the Second Continental Congress in 1776, Jefferson was asked to write a declaration of independence for the thirteen colonies. The declaration explained that all men are created equal and have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. On July 4, 1776, the colonists approved the declaration. July 4 is Independence Day in the United States.

During the Revolutionary War, Jefferson didn't fight as a soldier. He fought to turn Virginia, his home state, into a democracy. A democracy is a government run by the people. Jefferson pushed for laws that allowed religious freedom. Some of his ideas in the Virginia laws were later used in the U.S. Constitution.

After the war was over and the colonies were free, Jefferson went to France. While he was there, he received a copy of the U.S. Constitution. It worried him that there was no Bill of Rights. At Jefferson's urging, Congress included a bill of rights that guaranteed freedom of religion, speech and other rights.

When Jefferson returned home, he became secretary of state and then vice-president under George Washington. During this time, people were arguing about what kind of government the United States should have. Some people thought that Washington should be king. Jefferson thought that the government should be a democracy.

In 1800, Jefferson ran for president because he wanted the United States to be a democracy. He won and became president. He moved to Washington, D.C., the new capital of the United States. Jefferson was the first president to begin his term in the White House.

In 1803, President Jefferson helped make a very important purchase for the United States. He bought land that France owned in America. The land that France sold stretched all the way to the Rocky Mountains. This land deal, called the Louisiana Purchase, doubled the size of the United States.

In 1804, Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the new land. Lewis and Clark explored land all the way to the Pacific Ocean. They wrote down all that they saw and drew pictures of the Indian tribes, plants and animals that they found.

The people of the United States liked Jefferson and re-elected him to a second term in 1804. Britain and France were at war during his second term. The British took Americans off American ships to fight. This made Americans mad, but Jefferson kept his country out of war.

After his second term as president, Jefferson retired and returned to his home at Monticello. Jefferson was retired, but he was still a very busy man. He spent his time working on inventions, writing letters and taking care of his farm. Jefferson invented the dumbwaiter, a little elevator, and a chair that turned.

In his seventies, Jefferson began work on a big project. He had always thought that people should have an education. He persuaded the Virginia legislature to build the University of Virginia. Jefferson designed and helped build the new buildings for the university. He was very proud of this project.

On July 4, 1826, exactly 50 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson died at home at Monticello. Jefferson wanted people to remember him as the writer of the Declaration of Independence and the law for religious freedom in Virginia. He also wanted people to remember him as the father of the University of Virginia.