An abridged version of the classic biography of the U.S. President Thomas Jefferson. This is a stirring portrait of an extraordinary American--Thomas Jefferson--third President of the United States, architect of freedom and democracy. He began his remarkable career as a lawyer, served in the Virginia House of Delegates and subsequently became Governor of Virginia, Ambassador to France, Secretary of State, and President. He wrote his own epitaph, because he hoped to be remembered for three of his contributions to the American nation--author of the Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom--and Father of the University of Virginia. Yet, curiously enough, most of Jefferson's life was a struggle between his desire for a quiet, scholarly life on his plantation at Monticello and the sacrifices he had to make in order to serve his county. Here, Professor Samuel K. Padover deftly reveals the personality of Jefferson, the devoted husbabnd and father, the farmer and philosopher, as well as the crises and achievements of his brilliant career as a statesman, in this absorbing, highly readable book.