"Every age and generation must be as free to act for itself, in all cases, as the ages and generation which preceded it. The vanity and presumption of governing beyond the grave is the most ridiculous and insolent of all tyrannies. Man has no property in man; neither has any generation a property in the generations which are to follow. The Parliament of the people of 1688, or of any period, had no more right to dispose of the people of the present day, or to bind or to control them in any shape whatever, than the Parliament or the people of the present day have to dispose of, bind, or control those who are to live a hundred or a thousand years hence. Every generation is and must be competent to all the purposes which it occasions require. It is the living, and not the dead that are to be accommodated. When man ceases to be, his power and his wants cease with him; and having no longer any participation in the concerns of this world, he has no longer any authority in directing who shall be its governors, or how its government shall be organized or how administered (p. 57)."

What this quote means is that the idea of policies written by people, lasting longer than the people who wrote them can be a very ineffective or dangerous way to govern a society. In order for each generation to be as free as the previous generation, the laws and ideals have to reflect the ever changing needs of the people alive at that time. Needs are always changing because the world round us is always changing. One concept that came from "The Enlightenment" is the idea the natural environment is one of the key factors that effects how an individual develops. It influences their needs, values and overall character. The individuals that collectively make up a society define the nature of that society. Therefore if the environment is always changing then the needs of a society are always changing. This means that it is the duty of the governing body to be ready to adapt to better meet those needs. If t is not prepared to do so the potential end result is the free will of a group of people being taken away for completely impractical reasons by people "from beyond the grave."

This quote relates to class because we are learning about the formation of the American political system and government and how its function is relevant to this nations history and our everyday lives today. A big part of our government is the recognition of god given or natural rights. These are rights that no one has the power to tamper with. Living by a set of out dated rules puts those rights at risk because someone who is no longer alive and has couldn't have had any idea what our lives would be like today, is affecting our ability to exercise those rights. Even today, certain issues and circumstances  that could not have been foreseen call into question laws that are still in affect. Ideas like the right to bear arms, what an individual is allowed to do with his or her body and what we are entitled to in terms of personal health, safety and security.