#21 - Global Reference, Main Point

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (B).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[viviannhernandezs@gmail.com]

Hello, I do not understand why the correct answer is B. I chose A, which in hindsight, I can see why it is wrong, but also wouldn't have chosen B.
I did not see how Eltis questioned William's analysis. It seems like everything he mentioned was regarding how outside factors made it more financially attractive for capitalists to abolish slavery, but where was the questioning?

[Beatrice Brown]

Hi Vivian! Thanks for your question, and happy to help you out with understanding this

Let's look for some support for the idea that Eltis questioned Williams' analysis. First, we need to understand what Williams' analysis was, which is described in the first paragraph. Williams argued that British abolition and emancipation were driven primarily by economic motives: depleted soil, indebtedness, and the inefficiency of coerced labor.

Eltis' view is described in the third and fourth paragraphs. More specifically, paragraph 4 explains how Eltis challenges Williams' analysis: Eltis argued that Williams "underestimated the economic viablity of the British colonies employing forced labor" even though Williams' insights about economic motives were partially correct, as well as that reasons other than the ones cited by Williams were responsible for convincing British leaders that free labor was more beneficial to the economy. Since Eltis describes how Williams "underestimated" certain factors and cited different reasons than Williams did, we can conclude that he "questioned Williams' analysis." These same lines also help support the idea that there is support for part of Williams' conclusion, since they tell us that his insights were "partly accurate."

Let's also look at why answer choice (A) is wrong. The reason answer choice (A) is wrong is that the passage does not say that Eltis believes that moral persuasion by abolitionists was a significant factor in Britain's abolition of slavery. Since the passage does not say that Eltis believes this, answer choice (A) cannot be correct.

Additionally, answer choice (B) accurately captures what the main point of the passage is: the passage describes the work of two scholars that reexamined Williams' conclusion about Britain's abolition of slavery and how this work demonstrates that there is support for part of Williams' conclusion. By contrast, answer choice (A) does not capture the idea that the passage aims to examine these Drescher's and Eltis' work in the context of the work done by Williams.

I hope this helps, and please let me know if you have any other questions!

[ikim10]

Hello,

I got this question correct, after much back and forth between (E) and (B). I thought both were strong contenders, but selected (B) over (E) because (E) contained the word "flawed," which I thought was too strong to prescribe to Williams' analysis. Also, (B) explicitly mentioned Drescher and Eltis, capturing the notion that the passage is about two scholars reexamining Williams' conclusion whereas (E) does not mention the 2.

Aside from that though, I really just chose (B) because it "sounded better." Can you provide further clarification as to why (E) is incorrect, and the difference between (E) and (B)? Thank you!

[Jeff Wren]

Hi ikim,

For Answer E, while "flawed" may seem too strong to describe Williams' analysis, it's actually the second half of the answer that is too strong, specifically that his conclusions about the economic conditions of the British slave colonies have been largely vindicated. Actually, Williams was not largely vindicated about his conclusions regarding the economic conditions of the British slave colonies. That was the part that Williams got wrong (at least according to Eltis, whose viewpoint that the author favors).

The key line is "Eltis thus concludes that, while Williams may well have underestimated the economic viability of the British colonies employing forced labor in the early 1800s, his insight into the economic motives for abolition was partly accurate" (lines 54-58). In other words, Williams was wrong about the colonies being "an impediment to British economic progress" (lines 7-9) which was Williams main argument for why Britain abolished slavery (i.e. the colonies using slaves was no longer economically viable). The part that Williams got right (according to Eltis) is that Britain abolished slavery for economic motives, just not the economic motives that Williams stated.

Another way to think of the difference between Answers B and E is how much each answer states that Williams got correct. In the passage, Williams was mostly wrong, but got one thing partially correct (the economic motive, but in a different sense than he described). This matches Answer B. Answer E implies that Williams was mostly correct (i.e. largely vindicated), which is not accurate based on the passage.