re: When did the idea that we're all "created equally" become a widely held belief?

quote:

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the moment you are born your soul is the same as everyone else's

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The Enlightment thinkers drew heavily from Petrach who espoused the belief that God create each person with a soul; but he also gave "man" free will or what he referred to as the ability to rise to the level of the Angels or sink the level of the beasts.
This opposed the prevailing assumption at the time that some people were born better than others - that's how Kings and Queens were made...

Imagine this nation's trajectory if the word "created" had been omitted...