Originally Posted by JAPOV
Effectively, America's Constitution set the ideal standard for abolishing slavery world wide, and recognizing all of humanity as equal.

Actually Tonester, not so much. The Europeans abolished slavery well before the US. And the notion of human equality and inalienable rights was born in the European enlightenment. We adopted from that body of thinking. Essentially (I think) as a reaction to the wretchedness of kings. And I think that these concepts were included in British parliamentary law about the same time as us. But the Brits hung on to the masquerade ball and its' cast of characters that remain to present.

Thanks to George Washington, we took it all further and got rid of kings. Legend has it that he was offered kingship and said "pass on that, I've had all the hell that I want." (paraphrased and dramatically enhanced)

All of that needs verification, but I think that it is basically correct.

https://soundcloud.com/sunset-poet-of-texas