Kentucky. His parents were farmers who
owned slaves. Jefferson grew up in Mississippi
and graduated from the U.S.
Military Academy atWest Point in
1828.
Career in the United States
Davis served in the Army until 1835.
He then returned to Mississippi and ran
a plantation.
In 1845 Davis was elected to the U.S.
House of Representatives. He left Congress
in 1846 to command Mississippi
troops in the MexicanWar. He won a
great victory at the battle of Buena
Vista.
Dates ripen on a date palm tree.
18 Davis, Jefferson BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
Davis returned from the war as a hero
and became a U.S. senator from Mississippi
in 1847. From 1853 to 1857 he
served as secretary of war under President
Franklin Pierce. Davis again
became a senator in 1857. At the time,
Northerners and Southerners were arguing
about many issues. Davis tried to get
the two sides to work together, but they
became more and more divided.
The Confederacy
In January 1861 Mississippi seceded, or
left the Union. Several other states did
the same. Representatives of those states
chose Davis to be their president. He
took office on February 18, 1861. Davis
ordered an attack on Fort Sumter in
South Carolina on April 12. The attack
began the American CivilWar.
As president, Davis had a hard job. The
United States had more people and
more resources than the Confederacy.
After four years of fighting, the Confederate
troops were forced to surrender.
This brought an end to the Confederate
States of America.
Davis then left Richmond, Virginia,
which was the Confederate capital. On
May 10 he was captured in Georgia. He
was put into prison for disloyalty to the
United States. But he was not placed on
trial. After two years he was released.
Davis spent time in Canada and Europe
and then ran an insurance company in
Memphis, Tennessee. He died in New
Orleans, Louisiana, on December 6,
1889.
#More to explore
American CivilWar • Confederate
States of America
Dead Sea
The Dead Sea is actually a salt lake. It is
located in southwestern Asia between
Jordan on the east and Israel and the
West Bank on the west. The Dead Sea
Jefferson Davis
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Dead Sea 19
has so much salt in it that only microbes
(microscopic life-forms) are able to live
in it. Its salt content is about seven times
that of the ocean.
The Dead Sea is about 50 miles (80
kilometers) long and 10 miles (16 kilometers)
wide. Its surface is 1,312 feet
(400 meters) below sea level, making it
the lowest body of water on Earth. Its
greatest depth is in the north, where it is
about 1,309 feet (399 meters) deep. The
Jordan River flows into the Dead Sea
from the north.
The land surrounding the Dead Sea is a
desert. The hot summer temperatures
cause the lake’s water to evaporate at a
high rate. When the water evaporates it
leaves behind salt. The area gets very
little rain so the water that evaporates is
not replaced very quickly. Because of
that, a high concentration of salt has
built up in the Dead Sea over the years.
In addition to the huge amount of salt
in the Dead Sea, there are also large
reserves of potash, gypsum, and other
chemical substances. The salt has been
used since ancient times. In the 1900s
nearby factories began collecting potash,
magnesium, calcium chloride, bromine,
and other chemicals from the sea.
#More to explore
Israel • Jordan
Dead Sea Scrolls
In 1947 a young shepherd found some
ancient scrolls (rolled-up writings) in a
cave in Jordan. More scrolls were found
nearby soon afterward. Now they are all
known as the Dead Sea Scrolls because
they were found near the Dead Sea.
They are important because some of the
scrolls contain parts of one of the earliest
versions of the Hebrew Bible. Others are
writings of the Jewish people who lived
in the area more than 2,000 years ago.
The Dead Sea Scrolls are written on
such materials as leather, papyrus (made
from the stems of a plant), and copper.
After being rolled up for so long they
were dried out and would not unroll
without breaking into pieces. Scholars
spent years working out ways to unroll
them without destroying them. Most of
The salt from the Dead Sea collects on its
shores.
A piece of the Dead Sea Scrolls shows an
early form of Hebrew writing.
20 Dead Sea Scrolls BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
the scrolls and fragments are now overseen
by the government of Israel.
The Bible scrolls were copies of original
manuscripts. They have been useful in
understanding the history of the Hebrew
Bible. Other scrolls outline the rules of a
community of Jews who lived on the
shores of the Dead Sea from about 150
BC to AD 68.Many scholars believe that
this was a group called the Essenes. Some
believe that the scrolls themselves were
the property of the Essenes.
Deafness
A person who is deaf either has trouble
hearing or cannot hear at all. Deafness
can occur in one ear or in both ears. It is
called partial deafness if the person can
still hear a little. It is called total deafness
if a person cannot hear anything.
Causes
There are a number of reasons why
people are deaf. Parents can pass down
genes that cause deafness. Diseases and
