You may have heard that the Declaration of Independence declares that "all men are created equal". The United States completely ignores that. Slaves were not considered people but objects. This hints the fact that they truly didn't believe that all men are created equal.

A synonym for man or men that isn't widely used nowadays is human. People used to refer to the human race as man (including women). One could say that the Declaration of Independence includes women (although that is unlikely). If so, that also contributes to the point that the white American men believed that not all humans were created equally.

The Constitutional Convention settles on the compromise of three-fifths; in allocating Congressional representation, it will count three-fifths of the slave population of a state. Congress was prohibited from terminating the slave trade until 1808. Fugitive slaves must be handed over to their masters if they cross the state lines.

Texas was a state of Mexico since the independence of Mexico from Spain was established in 1821. Texas disagreed with Mexico. They declared independence from Mexico in 1836 and formed the Republic of Texas. Eventually, they became independent. The first president of the Republic of Texas was Sam Houston (does that sound familiar?). Texas became the 28th state in the United States in 1845. Mexico certainly wasn't content with Texas being taken over by the United States. There had also been discord over the border of Texas. Mexico believed that the border was on the Nueces River while Texas argued that the border was on the Rio Grande River. The President at the time; James K. Polk; sent security troops to Texas to guard the border. Eventually, both the Mexican and the American troops started shooting and injuring/killing each other. The U.S. declared war on Mexico on the 7th of July 1846.

The 1850 Compromise had five fundamental clauses. First, it allowed California to become a free state of the Union. Second, it split the remainder of the Mexican Cession into the New Mexico and Utah territories. According to popular sovereignty, the voters in each would decide the slavery question. Third, it terminated the slave trade in Washington, D.C. Nevertheless, Congress declared it did not have the authority to prohibit the slave trade among the slave states. Fourthly, it included a highly restrictive fugitive slave law. Lastly, it resolved a Texas-New Mexico border donnybrook.

"Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly" is an anti-slavery novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Serialized on June 5, 1851, and published in 1852. "Uncle Tom’s Cabin" was the second-best-selling book in America in the 19th century, second only to the Bible. This book helped show the real horrors of slavery.
When Abraham Lincoln met the author at the start of the war he said to her "So this is the little lady who started this great war".
Uncle Tom (the main character) is a noble, Christian slave who stands up for his beliefs.

In Illinois, during the Senate election campaign, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas and Republican Abraham Lincoln engage in a series of seven debates. Their speeches were circulated among the states and serve as a nuanced debate of the slavery dilemma and its present and future. Though Abraham Lincoln lost the election, in 1860, most of what Lincoln said in the debates established his presidential campaign.

Abraham Lincoln was born in Hodgenville, Kentucky. He was against slavery and wanted to make a stand to put an end to it. The southern states didn't want him to become president because they wanted to keep slavery legal.

South California was the first state to secede, then followed
Mississipi (Jan 9, 1861),
Florida (Jan 10, 1861),
Alabama (Jan 11, 1861),
Georgia (Jan 19, 1861),
Louisiana (Jan 19, 1861),
Texas (Feb 1, 1861),
Virginia (Apr 17, 1861),
Arkansas (May 6, 1861),
North Carolina (May 20, 1861),
and Tennesee (June 8, 1861).

The states became the CSA or The Confederate States of America.

President Lincoln starts fighting to bring the CSA back to the US. He also fights to end slavery. He dies on April 15, 1865.

"The Stars and Bars".