Today the French celebrate 'le quatorze juillet'.. for on this day in 1789 folks stormed the Bastille (Saint-Antoine, a prison in them days). This 'storming' later became the symbol of the French revolution and kinda marks the beginning of the 'all men are born equal' perception.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Thomas Jefferson, 1776