"Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good" is the first act of the Declaration of the Rights of the Man and of the Citizen of 1789.
This first draft of this document was written by General Lafayette, with the help of Thomans Jefferson, and Honoré Mirabeau. It was one of the four documents that became the base of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in 1948.