Thomas Jefferson
by Nathan

My name is Thomas Jefferson. I was tall and I had long hair plus I had light skin. I liked to read any book I could get my hands on. I was against slavery. I wanted everyone to be equal. I was elected to represent my country in the Virginia House of Burgesses.

In 1776, I was asked to draft the Declaration of Independence. It took me 17 days to write and rewrite the Declaration. I wanted every sentence to be right. I had to work neat and careful because I wanted the congress to like what I wrote.

I was a book writer. I loved to write about the President. I was writing about George Washington. I had to put all the things about George in this one book. So I went to George Washington and asked him tons of questions. I wrote it all down on rough copy, then I went home. I wrote all of that information right on normal paper. I finished and I made copies and sold them. Then I started to make money. People thought the book was interesting. One day I met a lady called the Little Kim. We got married and lived happily ever after.

My Life
By Nick Jarosz

Hi! I'm Thomas Jefferson. I was born on April 13 in 1743 in a colony of Virginia. My father's name was Peter and my mother's name was Jane. I had six sisters and three brothers. You may have heard of me because I wrote the Declaration of Independence and was the third president of the United States.

At the age of sixteen, I was already six feet tall. I had broad shoulders and was thin. My neck was long and thin. I had freckles and soft gray-blue eyes. My oldest sister called me "fire head" because my hair was as red as fire.

I married Martha Wayles Skelton. We had six children and lived at Monticello, our home. I was the architect of Monticello. We had a farm at Monticello and we grew tobacco, and vegetables of all kinds. I invented a swivel chair, revolving table, a seven day clock, a folding ladder, and moving pen that would make copies of letters as I wrote them. I made these things for my home Monticello. The saddest time of my life was when Martha died. I didn't leave my room for six weeks after her death.

I enjoyed many occupations. I loved to play the violin while my wife played the harpsichord. I was a politician, Vice President, diplomat, and scientific farmer.

In 1775, as the Revolutionary War was about to start, I became more involved in colonial politics. In that time, I was a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, and was chosen to be a writer for my group. My writing was the reason I was chosen for a special committee in 1776. This committee was asked to write a Declaration of Independence. John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston were other members of my committee and asked me to do the writing. I wrote a document that was accepted by the Continental Congress on July 4th 1776 that declared our independence as colonies from Great Britain . There were very few changes made by the other members of the Congress. In the Declaration of Independence I wrote, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. . ." I felt strongly about freedom.

Many years later, after the death of Benjamin Franklin, I sent five slaves out west to look for land to form more states.

When my slaves came to California, they made a boat, from tools I gave them, to explore the ocean to see if there were any islands. The slaves found some islands and I named them Hawaii. The Hawaiian Islands became a state. Later, I claimed land in Canada and named it Alaska. I didn't have to fight the people in Canada for it.

Then, as President, I divided what was Massachusetts into two states and named them Maine and Massachusetts.

My slaves found millions of acres of land that formed thirty-seven states which would become fifty states in the United States of America.

I enjoyed writing to you on a computer. I usually write with a quill. You learned about my family, my friends, my occupations and adventures. You learned how the states out west were formed. Today, the Declaration of Independence, that I wrote, is important to the country of America.

Thomas Jefferson
by Daneisha

My name is Thomas Jefferson. I am a good thinker. I like to write. All I used to do when I was little was read and write, but since I am grown I have to be doing harder work and think as hard. But as I start growing I have to be more mature.

I was born on April 13,1743 in a four room wooden house in Virginia. At that time Virginia was one of the thirteen America colonies that belonged to England.

I was the third of ten children. I was tall and had red hair and freckles. I was curious and always eager to learn. I learned to hunt from my father. I learned to plow, weave, and shoe a horse. I made friends with Indians living nearby and learned from them, too. When I was fourteen, my father Peter Jefferson died. He left me more than two thousand acres of land, his desk, his bookcase, and his library of some forty books. I loved to read. Those books were the beginning of my library. Many years later, I sold more than 10 thousand of my books to the United States Congress. My books became an important part of the Library of Congress collection. My father also left me some slaves. The slaves were brought from Africa to America where they were sold. The slaves were used by their owners to plant and clear fields, to cook and serve meals, and to take care of children. I said that I hated slavery. I said everyone had a right to be free. When I was a member of the Virginia government he tried to pass laws ending the buying and selling of slaves. But still throughout my life, I had slaves of my own. When I was sixteen, I went to the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. I worked hard and was a good student. After I finished college, I studied in the law office of my friend George Wythe. Then I became a lawyer, too.

I began my work in the parlor of my apartment on Market Street. For several days I worked long hours at a desk, writing the immortal words with pen and ink. Years later I wrote that my words were not meant to be original or creative, but "to be an expression of the American mind." I used words and phrases that other American Patriots and even Europeans philosophers had used before, so that all could recognize the plain truth of my statement.

"We hold these truths to be self evident," I began my second sentence, "that all men are created equal." I filled my famous document with descriptions of the rights of people and the many faults of the British King and his government in America. I concluded by saying that the people of the "United States of America" declare themselves free of British rule. "And for the support of this Declaration, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our futures, and our sacred honor."

I finished the first draft of the Declaration of Independence in just a few days. When I showed it to the other four members of the committee, they must have been impressed. John Adams made only two minor changes. Benjamin Franklin made five. I decided that sixteen corrections were needed and added them to a second draft.

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