Q26

[skapur777]

I feel like ALL of these answers are wrong. How did they land on A? I eliminated B, C, D, and E quickly, though I doted on E but realized it was not really political activism (like campaigning, protesting, etc.) that caused it.

We get info from Drescher that he supports A but where do we get this from Eltis. Al we get from him is that the products grown by slaves were wanted at all levels of british society, but not that people of all classes wanted to abolish slavery...

[giladedelman]

Great question. At first, I completely agreed with you -- where the heck does Eltis weigh in on this? -- but then I found a small detail that makes (A) just a little bit better than the other answer choices.

So, we agree that Drescher talks about anti-slavery sentiment cutting across class boundaries. Then we get this:

"Drescher does not finally explain how England, a nation deeply divided by class struggles, could mobilize popular support for antislavery measures proposed by otherwise conservative politicians in the House of Lords and approved there with little dissent.

David Eltis' answer to that question actually supports some of Williams' insights."

The bold text is the crucial line here. If David Eltis is answering the question of how England could mobilize popular support despite class divisions, then he must agree with the premise that such support existed. So we do have some support for (A)!

(B) is what Williams says, and apparently Eltis agrees, but Drescher definitely disagrees.

(C) is actually something Drescher avoids, and Eltis doesn't weigh in.

(D) is Eltis's point, but not Drescher's.

(E) is out of scope: the passage doesn't actually mention any tradition of activism.

Does that help?

[skapur777]

Yeah it does, though I think this question was unfairly hard! Thank you!

[rpcuhk]

Great question. At first, I completely agreed with you -- where the heck does Eltis weigh in on this? -- but then I found a small detail that makes (A) just a little bit better than the other answer choices.

So, we agree that Drescher talks about anti-slavery sentiment cutting across class boundaries. Then we get this:

"Drescher does not finally explain how England, a nation deeply divided by class struggles, could mobilize popular support for antislavery measures proposed by otherwise conservative politicians in the House of Lords and approved there with little dissent.

David Eltis' answer to that question actually supports some of Williams' insights."

The bold text is the crucial line here. If David Eltis is answering the question of how England could mobilize popular support despite class divisions, then he must agree with the premise that such support existed. So we do have some support for (A)!

(B) is what Williams says, and apparently Eltis agrees, but Drescher definitely disagrees.

(C) is actually something Drescher avoids, and Eltis doesn't weigh in.

(D) is Eltis's point, but not Drescher's.

(E) is out of scope: the passage doesn't actually mention any tradition of activism.

Does that help?

Thanks for explaining (A)
I don't agree with your view on (E). The passage does mention tradition of activism (Line 24-25), which is part of Drescher's view
But Eltis is silent on this issue

[jayparkcom]

This question was exceptionally hard for me...
But I am not too sure line 29 actually gives the support that Eltis's belief that all people supported the abolition of slavery...

I think the last section of 3rd paragraph actually supports answer A:

1) The new wants stimulated all level of British society (so all consumers)
2) British leaders became committed to colonial labor reform...

Perhaps these two gives the support to answer A?
If not, could you elaborate how line 29 does the job?

Thanks

[ttunden]

This question was exceptionally hard for me...
But I am not too sure line 29 actually gives the support that Eltis's belief that all people supported the abolition of slavery...

I think the last section of 3rd paragraph actually supports answer A:

1) The new wants stimulated all level of British society (so all consumers)
2) British leaders became committed to colonial labor reform...

Perhaps these two gives the support to answer A?
If not, could you elaborate how line 29 does the job?

Thanks

+1

I think line 29 subtly shows that Eltis does think people of all classes supported the abolition of slavery. The question the author asks is " How England, a nation deeply divided by class struggles, could mobilize popular support for antislavery measures..."

Line 29 then says E's answer to that question actually supports some of Williams' insights. This paragraph then discusses the new wants and how it made sense to noblemen and upper class to abolish slavery. The higher wages, higher productivity, forced labor appearing inappropriate and counterproductive to employers, and so forth.

Now if Eltis said, oh in answering Dreschers question I disagree that the lower class were involved or Drescher is heading in a significantly different direction then yea A would not be right.

You really have to get this answer by POE because a quick glance at A, it doesn't look right. You know that its an inference question so you need a weak answer.

B/E are too strong. Notice the "primary"

C - Drescher disagrees.

D - No support, thought it was irrelevant. Never saw liberty being idealized in the passage.

[Dallas9]

How is answer choice A inferrable ?

The problem I had with that choice is it felt too broad by saying "all classes ".......popular support in Line 27 doesn't necessarily mean people from all groups supported it

The following text "with little dissent" implies while it was widely popular, it wasn't universally supported....so I feel it's possible given that , it leaves open the possibility there was a group in which no one may have supported it

I had a similar thought process when reading that it "cut across through lines of class , party , and religion ". I feel the phrase again shows it was widespread ....but I don't know if you can necessarily make a leap to "all"

Thanks for the help !

[maryadkins]

Agree that it's a stretch to "all." I think the takeaway from this question is the importance of choosing the best of the 5 answer choices on reading comp—work "wrong to right" as we say. Like Gilad mentioned above, (A) isn't awesome, but the others are way worse.