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Word: ruffies (lookup in dictionary) (lookup stats)
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...American life. Many historians consider the pre-Revolutionary period one of the most violent these shores have seen. Some of the turmoil, necessary for protest, had a point. Much more of it was pointless. Vigilantism, lynching, I cruel and sadistic i punishments were -common on the frontier. Backwoods ruffi-i ans as described in the journal of a Virginia tutor commonly engaged in "Kicking, Scratching, Pinching, Biting, Butting, Tripping, Throttling, Gouging, Cursing, Dismembering." Ratting and cockfighting were common diversions...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: Bicentennial Essay: Vice and Virtue: Our Moral Condition | 10/27/1975 | See Source »

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