I set out on this ground, which I suppose to be self-evident, that the earth belongs in usufruct to the living; that the dead have neither powers nor rights over it.
This, with its echo of the Declaration (self-evident
) was Jefferson at his most terse. Except for the phrase in usufruct
— a legalism meaning the right to use property for a certain time — Jefferson’s words could be chiseled in stone, or shouted on the hustings.
Robert Edge Pine (1730—88)
Oil on canvas; 91.5cm x 73.5cm (36" x 28 15/16"). National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian), Washington, DC.
Oil on canvas. Historical Society of Pennsylvania Collection, Philadelphia History Museum at the Atwater Kent, Philadelphia, PA.
Oil on canvas; 90.2 x 69.9cm (35 1/2 x 27 1/2"). National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian), Washington, DC.
Oil on canvas. Independence National Historical Park, Portrait Collection (Second Bank of the United States), Philadelphia, PA.
Oil on canvas. National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian), Washington, DC.
Photomechanical Print copy c. 1916. U.S. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.
Oil on canvas. Historical Society of Pennsylvania Collection, Philadelphia History Museum at the Atwater Kent, Philadelphia, PA.
James Madison (2011)