The spread of tobacco farming in seventeenth-century Virginia O a. helped to create a highly unequal society, dominated economically and politically by an elite plantation-owning class. O b. impoverished the landholding elite and allowed poor laborers to acquire most of the land. O c. discouraged land speculation and reduced the demand for field labor. O d. led to a remarkably equal, socially unified society, centered on networks of closely connected towns. O e. led to a decline in profits for the colonial government and the crown.