Jefferson’s central claim in the passage is that
Choose 1 answer:
the current system of inheritance and ownership is unlikely ever to change.
wealth should be redistributed in a way that benefits the majority of society.
the unemployed should use their energies to work the land, rather than ask for money.
everybody has the natural right to as much property as he or she thinks necessary.

In his letter to James Madison, President Thomas Jefferson narrates how he had chanced upon a poor woman during his walk up a mountain. On further conversation with the woman, he found out that the poor are left poor while the rich get richer. His 'gift' of 24 sous to the woman left her so overwhelmed that she "was unable to utter a word" out of utter gratitude.

His encounter with the woman made him realize just how unequal the people of America were. He stated that "property of this country is absolutely concentred in a very few hands" while "the most numerous of all classes, that is, the poor cannot find work". Thus, the central claim that Jefferson is making in his initial part of the letter is that the wealth of the country, or for that matter any form of wealth, be distributed in such a way that it benefits not only the 'few' rich people but also to the majority of the society, "the poor".