One of Jefferson's most famous propositions, written in Paris in September 1789,was introduced in a letter to his fellow Virginian James Madison. The question he raised was "whether one generation of men has a right to bind another." His answer was an emphatic no: "the earth belongs in usufruct to the living."
Each generation enjoys the use of its property, while alive. The laws of the society may permit such property to be be- queathed to those still living. But, he believed,...