How did Edmund Burke describe the relationship between past, present, and future generations?

Edmund Burke rejected the Enlightenment view that society is merely a social contract among the living. Instead, he argued that society is a partnership that transcends the present, linking the dead, the living, and those yet to be born.1

Burke believed that because the goals of this partnership cannot be achieved within a single lifetime, political power must be treated as a trust. Those currently in power have a moral duty to be mindful of both the value of what they have inherited from the past and their obligations to their successors. He warned that if each generation acted only on its own "floating fancies" and ignored these historical and future connections, society would lose its continuity, rendering individuals as fleeting and insignificant as "the flies of a summer".1

Consequently, Burke advocated for an evolutionary approach to political change, famously stating that a statesman should possess both "a disposition to preserve and an ability to improve".1