My report is on our third president, Thomas Jefferson. He was born in Virginia on April 13 in the year of 1743 at his parent’s home called Shadwell. Back then, there was no such thing as United States of America (U.S.A.), it was still a Colony ruled by the King of England.

At the age of sixteen, Thomas went to the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. That was Virginia’s Capital back then. After college, he went to law school to become a lawyer. Back then, you only had to study for 6 weeks to join the bar, but Thomas studied for 5 years, since he wanted to be an excellent lawyer. Thomas also studied the sciences, history, geography, and 4 languages (Latin, Greek and French and English). Thomas was admitted to the Virginia Bar as a lawyer in 1767.

When Thomas was twenty-five, he decided to become a burgess, which was a person who was elected by an area who shared thoughts and requests with other burgesses. Many of Thomas’ friends voted for him. While he was there, he met several other burgesses who would go on to become important later on.  One of them was George Washington.

On New Year’s Day 1772, Thomas married a woman named Martha Skelton. They went to live in Monticello near Charlottesville, VA. Thomas was a very talented architect. He designed and helped construct his own house that he named Monticello. Martha soon gave birth to a baby girl named Patsy. Thomas & Martha were very pleased with their new baby. But soon, Thomas had to return to Williamsburg.

The new governor, Lord Dunmore, did not like the House of Burgesses, so he decided to disband it. In March 1773, eleven of the burgesses got together. One was Patrick Henry and another was Thomas Jefferson. The colonists wanted to write letters to other colonists to find out about what they should do about the English. The colonies were coming together against England. The leaders of the colonies got together in Philadelphia. Congress decided that George Washington should be their leader for the war.

In May 1776, Thomas had to go back to Philadelphia. Congress met many times since there were several things to do. They needed to have a bigger Navy, Army, and money to manage them. The colonists had been fighting for a year and they finally told the world what they were fighting for. Congress chose five men to write the reasons why they were fighting, a revolution of independence. One of those men was Thomas Jefferson, who was the youngest congressman, but the other congressmen decided that he was right for the job.  John Adams and Benjamin Franklin were also on the committee.  The five-person committee chose Thomas Jefferson to write the first draft because of his reputation as a good writer. Thomas Jefferson began writing the Declaration of Independence. It took 18 days to finish this important historical document. Finally, on July 4, 1776, Congress approved the wording of the Declaration of Independence. Copies were sent all over the thirteen colonies, which were now the United States of America. All over America bells rang, people cheered, and shot guns off.

Thomas Jefferson was elected president of the United States in 1801. However, he had defeated his old friend John Adams, who was the incumbent president.  They stopped being friends after that.  In 1803, he doubled the size of the United States by making the Louisiana Purchase for 15 million dollars from France. He sent out two of his friends, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore these western lands. Their expedition was called the Lewis and Clark expedition.  After Thomas retired from being president, he became friends again with John Adams.  They both died on July 4th, fifty years after the declaration of independence was written.  He was buried in Charlottesville, VA. On his tombstone was written,

"Here was buried Thomas Jefferson Author of the Declaration of American Independence, Of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, And Father of the University of Virginia."


My resources 
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761570282_12/Thomas_Jefferson.htmlurces
http://www.whitehouse.gov/kids/presidents/thomasjefferson.html
http://www.ac-orleans-tours.fr/hist-geo3/sec-euro/Sec-Euro-2nde/american-revolution/jefferson1.htm
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/tj3.html
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bljefferson.htm?rd=1
http://www.famousquotes.me.uk/jefferson_thomas