Why did Edmund Burke believe society was a partnership among the living the dead and future generations?

Edmund Burke viewed society as a partnership among the living, the dead, and those yet to be born because he believed that the ends of a political community cannot be achieved within the span of a single generation.1

In his Reflections on the Revolution in France, Burke argued that political society is not a mere contract based on the "floating fancies" of the present, but a sacred trust. He contended that no single generation possesses the right to destroy the inherited fabric of society, as doing so would sever the essential links between the past and the future, reducing humanity to little more than "the flies of a summer".12

By framing society as a continuous community in time, Burke emphasized that political power is a responsibility held by the living to preserve and improve upon the traditions, morals, and institutions bequeathed by their ancestors for the benefit of posterity. This evolutionary perspective stood in direct opposition to the radical, abstract schemes of the French Revolution, which he believed threatened to dismantle the stable, habitual life of society.123