headright - The right to acquire a certain amount of land granted to the person who finances the passage of a laborer. "Masters-not servants themselves- thus reaped the benefits of landownership from the headright system."

disenfranchise - To take away the right to vote. "The Virginia Assembly in 1670 disenfranchised most of the landless knockabouts...."

civil war - A conflict between the citizens of inhabitants of the same country. "... this civil war in Virginia ground on...."

tidewater - The territory adjoining water affected by tides-this is, near the seacoast or coastal rivers. "Bacon... had pitted the hard scrabble backcountry frontiersmen against the haughty gentry of the tidewater plantations."

middle passage - That portion of a slave ship's journey in which slaves were carried from Africa to the Americas. "... the captives were herded aboard sweltering ships for the gruesome ‘middle passage.' ..."

fertility - The ability to mate and produce abundant young. "The captive black population of the Chesapeake area soon began to grow not only through new imports bur also through its own fertility...."

menial - Fit for servants; humble or low. "... they performed the sweaty toil of clearing swamps, grubbing out for trees, and other menial tasks."

militia - An armed force of citizens called out only in emergencies. "[They] tried to march to Spanish Florida, only to be stopped by the local militia."

hierarchy - a social group arranged in ranks or classes. "... rough equality... was giving way to a hierarchy or wealth and status...."

corporation - A group or institution granted legal rights to carry on certain specified activities. "...the Massachusetts Puritans established Harvard College, today the oldest corporation in America...."

jeremiad - A sermon or prophecy warning of doom and calling for repentance. "Jeremiads continued to thunder from the pulpits...."

lynching - The illegal killing of an accused person by mob action without due process. "A hysterical ‘witch-hunt' ensued, leading to the legal lynching in 1692 of twenty individuals...."

hinterland - Inland region back from a port, river, or the seacoast. "No broad, fertile hinterland... beckoned people inland."

social structure - The basic pattern of the distribution of status and wealth in a society. "... many settlers... tried to re-create on a modified scale the social structure they had known in the Old World."

blue blood - Of noble or upper-class descent. "... would-be American blue bloods resented the pretensions of the ‘meaner sort.'..."