A self evident truth?

The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion & Liberty presents a film about the relationship between the two: The Birth of Freedom. The contention that all men are equal isn't obvious since human beings are obviously so unequal in so many ways. The very idea of human equality, and of human rights, comes from somewhere else.

The American founders said that all men are created equal and are endowed with certain unalienable rights—that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. They called this a self-evident truth. Eighty-seven years later, Abraham Lincoln reaffirmed this idea on the Civil War battlefield of Gettysburg. And in 1963 these same words echoed from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial as Martin Luther King, Jr. urged America to fulfill the promise of its founding. But humans are separated by enormous differences in talent and circumstance. Why would anyone believe that all men are created equal? That all should be free? That all deserve a voice in choosing their leaders? Why would any nation consider this a self-evident truth?

The film answers the question. Thanks to the Evangelical Outpost for the reference. The Birth of Freedom - A Documentary on the History of Freedom which asks: How is Freedom Born?