Janis Cakste
(1859-1927) - President of the Constitutional Assembly, the first Latvian President of State.

Born in Lielsesava on 14 September 1859. In 1882 Janis Cakste graduated from the Jelgava Gymnasium and in 1886 he graduated from the Law Department of the Moscow University. In the same year he took the post of the secretary in the prosecutor's office of the Kurzeme Gubernia. In 1888 he began to work as a lawyer in Jelgava. In Jelgava he got actively involved in public life and was elected chairman of three major Latvian associations.

In 1905 Janis Cakste participated in the drafting of the project of Latvia's autonomy and in 1906 he was elected to the Russian State Council (Duma) as a representative from Kurzeme. After the dissolution of the Duma J. Cakste was among the 166 deputies (councilors) who signed the so-called Vyborg Appeal calling upon the citizens to refuse to pay taxes and send recruits to the Tsar's Army until the convening of the Second Duma. For these activities he was sentenced to three-months' imprisonment.

In 1915 J. Cakste moved to Tartu where together with other Latvians he founded the Latvian Refugees' Central Committee and in 1917 became its chairman. At the beginning of 1917 he went abroad to propagate the idea of Latvia's independence; there he wrote a brochure DIE LETTEN UND IHRE LATVIJA. In 1918 the People's Council of Latvia elected J. Cakste its President. At the end of the same year J. Cakste formed the Latvian Diplomatic Corps abroad; he headed the Latvian delegation at the Paris Peace Conference where the delegation petitioned the recognition of Latvia's independence.

In July 1919 J. Cakste returned to Latvia and headed the People's Council. The Constitutional Assembly elected J. Cakste the President of State, and in conformity with the provisional rules of the Latvian state he simultaneously performed the functions of the President of State and those of the Commander-in-Chief of the army. The First and the Second Saeima elected Janis Cakste the President of State. His style of work established the prestige of the President's post; he promulgated 402 laws and pardoned 549 convicted persons.