Final answer:
The headright system granted land to settlers who paid their way to colonial Virginia, offering 50 acres per individual and additional land for each servant or family member.
Step-by-step explanation:
The headright system was a method of land distribution in which parcels of land were granted to settlers who paid their own way to Virginia. The system played a significant role in the colonization of the American territories by the English.
It offered 50 acres of land to each immigrant who paid for their own passage and an additional 50 acres for every servant or family member they brought with them. This greatly facilitated the settlement of the Virginia colony.
Indentured servants, under an indenture agreement which was essentially a labor contract, worked for a certain number of years in exchange for passage, money, and land once their service was completed.
These opportunities for land ownership were powerful incentives for English migrants. The system both addressed the labor shortage and contributed to the growth of a landowning middle class, between the existing aristocracy and the laborers.
The headright system also unwittingly set the stage for conflicts such as Bacon's Rebellion in 1676, where dissatisfaction among the poorer members of the colony with the territory’s governance led to a violent uprising.