Carnegie, Andrew (1835-1919)

Carnegie Andrew built the American steel industry and became very rich. But he believed that a rich man's money belonged to the community in which it was earned. During the last 18 years of his life, he shared much of his huge fortune with other people.

Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, on November 25, 1835. When Andrew was 13, the family moved to the United States and settled in Pittsburgh.

A year later Andrew found a job as a messenger for the Pittsburgh telegraph office. In his spare time he studied telegraphy. Thomas Scott, the superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad's western division, became interested in the boy. During the Civil War, Scott was sent to left the front as assistant secretary of war. He took young Carnegie along to help him set up railroads and a telegraph system for the Union Army.

After the war, Andrew proved that sleeping cars would improve railroad travel. He formed a sleeping car company and kept a large share. This started his success.

In 1865 he resigned from the the railroad and began to invest in different businesses. He foresaw that the growing industry of the United States would need more and more steel. By putting all his money into steel, he said he was "putting all his eggs in one basket and then watching the basket." He soon became known as the Steel King. In 1901 Andrew Carnegie sold his steel empire to the newly formed United States Steel Corporation.

Carnegie now had time to carry out his dream of helping other people. Remembering how, when he was a boy, a wealthy man had lent him books, he founded the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh. The institute has a library, a museum of fine arts, a museum of natural history, and a school of technology. He also gave large sums of money to establish free libraries in the United States and many other countries. Much of Carnegie's wealth went to organizations that worked for peace and friendship throughout the world.

Carnegie died on August 11, 1919, shortly after the end of World War I. The many organizations Carnegie endowed are carrying out his democratic ideas.

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Caravaggio, Michelangelo Da (1573-1610)

The stormy life of the painter Michelangelo Merisi began in the small Italian town of Caravaggio on September 28, 1573. At 11 he became an apprentice to an artist in the nearby town of Milan, but after 4 years he left to be on his own. When he was about 18, Michelangelo Da Caravaggio arrived in Rome, where he was known by the name of his birthplace.

Caravaggio painted detailed pictures of baskets of fruits and flowers, and scenes of everyday life. But it is for his religious paintings that Caravaggio is famous. Through the influence of his patron Cardinal del Monte, he was commissioned to paint pictures for two churches in Rome. Church officials, however, demanded that Caravaggio repaint the pictures. They were shocked that he had shown religious figures as peasants with dirty feet and torn robes. By depicting the saints as ordinary men of his time. Caravaggio believed he would make the Bible stories seem more real. To give a spiritual quality to a figure, he would set it apart from the surrounding darkness by a brilliant and dramatic night.

Caravaggio had a violent temper and was always getting into fights. In 1606 he stabbed a man had to flee Rome. He went to Naples. then to the island of Malta. Because of another fight he had to escape from the island. After fleeing from city to city, he decided to return to Rome, hoping for a pardon. On the way he feel ill and on July 18, 1610. It was rumored that the Pope had already granted his pardon.

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Burr, Aaron (1756-1836)

Burr, Aaron was a brilliant lawyer, a hero of the Revolutionary War, and vice-president of the United States. He was also one of the greatest failures in American history. His career was marred by poor judgement, uncontrolled ambition, and wasted opportunities. Most Americans remember Burr only as the man who killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel.

Aaron Burr was born in Newark, New Jersey. on February 6, 1756. His father was president of Princeton University in the days when it was called the College of New Jersey.

Burr was ready to enter college when he was 11 years old. But he had to wait until he was 13 before Princeton would admit him. He was graduated with honors when he was 16. Later, he studied law. Burr was a handsome young man with dark, flashing eyes. He had a ready smile and made friends easily.


Revolutionary Soldier
At the outbreak of the Revolution, the 19-year-old Burr joined the Continental Army. He served as an officer in the ill-fated American march on Quebec in 1775. When General Richard Montgomery led an attack on the Quebec fortress, Aaron Burr was at his side. The Americans were defeated, and Montgomery was killed. Burr was the last man to leave the battlefield. He tried, unsuccessfully, to carry the body of his fallen commander through the knee-deep snow under a hail of British bullets.

Later, Burr served as a staff officer with George Washington. Once, by disobeying orders, he saved an entire army brigade from capture by the British. But poor health cut short a military career, and Burr resigned from the army in 1779.

Marriage and a Law Career
In 1782 Burr married Mrs. Theodosia Prevost, the widow of a British officer. She was 10 years older than Aaron Burr. They had one child, a girl, named Theodosia after her mother. Burr carefully educated his daughter since he believed girls should be as well educated as boys. His wife adored him, and he in turn was a model husband and father. Although Burr's ambitions made him ruthless in public affairs, he was a man with a warm heart who loved and helped young people throughout his long life. Burr's wife lived only 12 years after their marriage, but she was a steadying influence on her husband, whom Washington once called impetuous and reckless.

For 20 years Burr was a leading figure in the legal, social, and political life of New York. He served in the United States Senate and in the New York State Assembly. In his early years in New York, Burr had become friendly with another prominent young lawyer, Alexander Hamilton. But political rivalry soon turned the two men into bitter enemies.

Vice-President And Tragedy
In the presidential election of 1800, Burr and Thomas Jefferson both received the same number of votes. So the election was decided by the House of Representatives. After 36 ballots Jefferson was elected president, and Burr became vice-president.

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Definition of Biography

Biography is both a craft and an art. As a craftsman the biographer begins with research, gathering all the available information about a person's life. There are first the surface facts about a chosen subject. Then the biographer looks beneath the surface for evidence of inner truths-what the man or woman thought, felt, desired, suffered.

The biographer as an artist sets down the meaning of a person's life. With his research at hand, the writer chooses the facts he will use. Sometimes it is the bulk of detail; sometimes it is the essence, or pith. With this task of selection comes the task of writing the story in a clear, convincing way. The artist must so construct his book that every portion of the person's life fits into an understandable, moving whole. The writing must have style; the structure must have architectural form. That is the meaning of art.

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