Social Status.

The role of social status must be considered in the development of the colonial political structure. It is important to remember that the earlier English and other European settlers did not conceive of government apart from a hierarchical social construct. Any semblance of egalitarianism was virtually foreign to most early provincials. "Social leadership and political leadership" were, in the minds of Englishmen, "so closely related" to the degree that "experience if not theory justified an identification between state and society." To most they were indistinguishable. This hierarchical relationship did not die easily in the American provinces.

Virginia as a Model.

The settlers into Jamestown demonstrated this relationship of social status and political authority. The earliest leaders were of high social, economic, and educational standing. Within a generation, however, these leaders either departed or died not having left descendants to take their place...