I've often wondered if the ability to use language and the ability to reason from cause and effect have evolved simultaneously.

Language, to be effective, must be time dependent, just as reasoning from cause to effect is also time-dependent. In fact, the very earliest verbs, I think, like "go" and "be" have different roots for past or present tense. Children learn very early that no one ever "goed", one must "went". I believe that the past tense verb then, for essential motion or existence came later in the evolution of language, but that the ability to reason accompanied and even stimulated the development of language, and vice-versa.

Most definitely, logic must be taught. Logic and the scientific method are relatively recent discoveries. Most of human history has been characterized by superstition, witchcraft and shamanism, all of which developed as a means to control men. They are primitive attempts at philosophy, but they explain very little. Reason is the facility that allows conscious thought and we are born with it if we are not mentally deficient, but it has both proper and improper uses. Reasoning from faulty premises can be as dangerous as acting on pure emotion. Luckily, people living in this age have available all the information they need about logic and the proper use of reason, however these things are not emphasized in most basic educational systems.

I firmly believe that the reason why the majority of human history was characterized by tribalism and savagery is that it was nearly impossible to disseminate the principles of logic to the population. Once these things were discovered and a mechanism to communicate them came into being, mankind advanced in the relatively short time span of a few thousand years after spending millennia in a state no better than animals.

certainly, some people have inherently, better minds-just like some are better athletes.
The thing that limits ability to use reason is a purposeful decision to not PRACTICE reason and logic. (some are never taught it) In first and 2nd world countries today, that is no longer a valid excuse.