Chapter 4: American Life in the Seventeenth Century 1607-1692

Question 1

headright

Answer 1

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.”

Question 2

disenfranchise

Answer 2

To take away the right to vote. “The Virginia Assembly in 1670 disenfranchised most of the landless knockabouts….”

Question 3

civil war

Answer 3

A conflict between the citizens of inhabitants of the same country. “… this civil war in Virginia ground on….”

Question 4

tidewater

Answer 4

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.”

Question 5

middle passage

Answer 5

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.’ …”

Question 6

fertility

Answer 6

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….”

Question 7

menial

Answer 7

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

Question 8

militia

Answer 8

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.”

Question 9

heirarchy

Answer 9

a social group arranged in ranks or classes. “… rough equality… was giving way to a hierarchy or wealth and status….”

Question 10

corporation

Answer 10

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….”

Question 11

jeremiad

Answer 11

A sermon or prophecy warning of doom and calling for repentance. “Jeremiads continued to thunder from the pulpits….”

Question 12

lynching

Answer 12

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….”

Question 13

hinterland

Answer 13

Inland region back from a port, river, or the seacoast. “No broad, fertile hinterland… beckoned people inland.”

Question 14

social structure

Answer 14

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.”

Question 15

blue blood

Answer 15

Of noble or upper-class descent. “… would-be American blue bloods resented the pretensions of the ‘meaner sort.’…”