Author, Politician. He was a politician, poet, publicist, journalist, educator, and leader of the Slovak national movement in the 19th century. He was a Lutheran and expressed his philosophy in one sentence: "My country is my being, and every hour of my life shall be devoted to it." After studying at home with his father, who was a school teacher, he studied at the Evangelic Lutheran Lyceum. In 1831 he wrote his first poem. On December 17, 1834 he was elected secretary of the Czech-Slav Society in Lyceum. In 1835 he co-edits "Fruits," a publication of the Czech-Slav Society. He published his poetry in this publication. He was published under a host of pennames. In 1836 after being rejected by the Czech community to blend the Czech language and the Slav language, he standardized the Slovak language. As a skilled linguist, he authored in October of 1851 the present-day Slovak language standards. The Slav language is a blend of Polish, Czech, and even German, Hungarian, Greek and Latin. Citizens, who spoke the Slav language, could understand the Czech language easier than Czech understanding the Slav language. Within the Slav language, there are various dialects. In 1787 the Catholic priest, Anton Bernolak, was credited with codifying of the first Slovak language standard, yet his work was not readily accepted as a national standard language. Codification of the Slav language proved to be quite difficult, as it was a necessity to achieve a consensus between Catholics and Protestants, which provoked many discussions and protests. Stur's writings were published in the Slav language. From 1841 to 1844, he was co-editor of the literary magazine, "Tatranka." From 1845 to 1848 he was an editor and publisher of the "Slovenian National Newspaper." Seeking equal social status and achieving justice in the Slovak armed uprising, he was an organizer of the group called the Volunteer Campaign, which participated in the 1848 Revolution against the Kingdom of Hungary. He published his philosophic book "The Slavdom and the World of the Future," in 1852 and has had many editions in several languages with the last being 1993. In 1853 the only collection of his poems, "Singings and Songs," was published. On May 11, 1854, he attended the unveiling of the monument for Ján Hollý, a Catholic priest, who was the first Slovak poet to write in the new Slovak language. He wrote a poem to honor Holly. On December 22, 1855, he accidently shot himself on a hunting trip and died three weeks later. He had a formal national funeral.