[DiogenesLamp]

"There is actually a couple of ideas in here that are more important than announcing our break with England," I said, highlighting with a yellow marker this passage:

that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights

I have come to understand that for most people, those are the only words in the Declaration. The rest of it is meaningless gibberish because the *ONLY* thing that matters is "all men are created equal."

You see, these 13 slave owning states were commenting on slavery, and nothing else.

Everyone says so.

[ifinnegan]

“that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights”

You got something against that?

[amorphous]

Everyone says so.

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/23747/23747-h/23747-h.htm

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Destruction and Reconstruction:, by Richard Taylor

The above personal account is by Zachary Taylor's son, Richard Taylor; present at the beginning and end of the War, and who was well aware of the politics which led to it, much like today - in fact.