Sentence:  It was a protest against the <WSD>patroonship</WSD> system, which went back to the 1600s when the Dutch ruled New York, a system where […] ‘a few families, intricately intermarried, controlled the destinies of three hundred thousand people and ruled in almost kingly splendor near two million acres of land.' 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  The position or office of a patroon; landownership (originally of a Dutch colony).