Answer:
In Colonial America, there were three main social classes. They were the gentry, the middle class, and the poor. The highest class was the gentry. They could vote. Also, the Southern elite consisted of wealthy planters in Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina. In terms of the white population of Virginia and Maryland in the mid-18th century, the top five percent were estimated to be planters who possessed growing wealth and increasing political power and social prestige.