#24 - Must Be True

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=10837)

The correct answer choice is (A)

This question asks for the consequence of unlimited power for French and English monarchies during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In the fourth paragraph, the author provides that during that time, as France and England struggled to expand their empires, they required huge amounts of capital, and because of their reputations for repudiating debt, they were charged high rates of interest when borrowing.

Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice. As discussed, during that time it was difficult for the French and English monarchs to keep their expansions financed.

Answer choice (B): The passage does not mention the enacting of new laws to specify creditor obligations, so this choice fails the Fact Test and should be ruled out of contention.

Answer choice (C): The passage mentions that wealthy subjects were given more favorable terms than some monarchs, but that does not necessarily mean that it became increasingly easy for them to borrow.

Answer choice (D): This is an Opposite Answer; the passage provides that as monarchs limited their power, their ability to borrow increased.

Answer choice (E): The monarchs were not forced to demonstrate such a willingness, but when Parliament did limit the power of monarchies, the results were beneficial.

[Barcelona10]

In this question, I narrowed the answer choices to A and D. I chose D because in the fourth paragraph we see that when there were no limitations on legal power of the monarchs, they were basically irresponsible borrowers, and consequently, creditors limited their lending through interest rates going up. Then later, when limitations were applied, the Crown's borrowing increased because lenders were confident in the Crown (lines45-48).

So my question is: What is going on in my thinking that led me to the wrong answer? Why is A better?

[Steve Stein]

Hi,

It's great that you were able to narrow down the options to those two answer choices. The problem with answer choice D deals with what the author specifies in the next paragraph: after the Crown's power was restricted, this "translated into a newfound ability to borrow." So the monarchs were able to borrow more after their power was restricted.

As for answer choice A, this is confirmed by the author confirms this choice in the fifth and sixth paragraphs, from lines 24 - 48. The monarchs struggled to expand their own empires, against, among other things, the high interest rates that resulted form a lack of confidence in the Crown.

I hope that's helpful! Please let me know whether this is clear--thanks!

~Steve

[MBG13]

I agree that answer choices B through E are wrong, but I'm not convinced about A's correctness either. (I actually picked D because I didn't like A.)

When I read the paragraph "In the struggle to expand their empires...." I thought"struggle" meant the actual struggle, i.e., war, conflict, etc., not a "struggle" as in struggling to finance their expansion.

My question is why is my initial concept/definition of "struggle" incorrect?

[Clay Cooper]

Hi MBG13,

Thanks for your question.

While I do think that it is probably wrong to interpret 'struggle' as referring to violent physical conflict here, I think that such a misinterpretation is still not enough to disqualify answer choice A. To illustrate, let's substitute the word 'wars' for 'struggle' and see if A still makes sense.

'In the wars to expand their empires, the English and French monarchies required vast amounts of capital.' - The passage then goes on to explain how this was a problem: neither monarchy could believably commit to repaying loans at this time, because neither had any limit on their sovereignty. As a result, the author explains, they developed a reputation for not repaying debts, and were charged higher interest rates. That sounds to me like difficulty in financing a struggle - whether financing that struggle means outfitting trade ships or provisioning armed forces for physical battle. In either case, one would be hindered by a reputation of repudiating debts and having to pay higher interest rates for the money one succeeded in borrowing.

Does that make sense?

[kcho10]

What confused me about this question is the fact that it asks about the 17th AND 18th centuries. I understand why A would be correct for the 17th century, but doesn't the passage suggest that in the 18th century (after the Glorious Revolution of 1688), that it became easier for monarchs to borrow money, thus making it easier for them to finance the expansion of empires?

[Adam Tyson]

Good question, and you had me baffled for a minute there! However, we learn early in the passage (lines 12-13) that the problem existed in both the 17th and 18th centuries, and that it was a problem for both the English and the French. What about the Glorious Revolution in 1688, then? Check out line 39 and you will see that it applied to England, but no mention is made of France. Since the passage starts off by telling us the the English and French had this problem in both centuries, we can reasonably infer that even though England apparently solved the problem in the 17th century, France still had the problem for at least some of the 18th century.

As always, it comes down to careful reading, and to selecting the best answer of the choices we are given. If B through E are losers, and A is at least a contender, pick A and don't sweat the small stuff. That's the way to win on this test!

[amacmill]

Answer a deterred me because I thought the entire point of the passage was that monarchs could do whatever they wanted. So even if the interest rates were higher, I didn't interpret this as creating a difficulty in securing the funds they needed because the passage just says it was more expensive for them, not that they had trouble literally getting the funds.

[AthenaDalton]

Hi amacmill,

Thanks for your question! I think the point of the passage was to explore some of the the downsides of unlimited sovereign power, in particular the paradox of omnipotence.

I think the fact that lenders charged a higher interest rate when lending to sovereign governments (as opposed to lending to private corporations) shows that the monarchs encountered some difficulties in getting loans. At a minimum, the monarchs would have to fork over high interest payments each month to cover the principal on the loan.

The passage indicates that sovereigns during this time had difficulty locating a willing lender: "English and French monarchies in the 17th and 18th centuries confronted a practical challenge" . . . "creditors [would] not voluntarily lend generous amounts at favorable terms to an absolute monarch" . . . "these monarchs earned a reputation for repudiating debts and reneging upon commitments" . . . and "creditors took such behavior into account and demanded higher interest rates."

Even if a sovereign had absolute power within its borders, it could still encounter difficulty in convincing a foreign bank to lend money to cover the cost of financing a war.

I hope this helps clarify things. Good luck studying!

Athena Dalton

[mN2mmvf]

Why is (E) incorrect? Eventually, because of the practical problems associated with sovereign omnipotence, a constitutional settlement halted "faithless conduct" and caused Parliament to no longer "tolerate governmental disregard for property rights." (Line 44). That to me sounded like a consequence of the previous absence on legal limitations, and it matched exactly with (E) -- "these monarchs were forced to demonstrate a willingness to respect property rights."

(A) however has no direct support in the passage. The passage simply says that monarchs' habit of "expropriating wealth, repudiating debts, and reneging upon commitments" caused them higher interest rates and damaged their reputations; it never says that creditors ever actually loaned them less money. And it doesn't go so far as to say that this caused the struggle to expand their empires. Rather, the passage says simply that the struggle to expand their empires (a struggle that surely involved much more than mere financing) created the circumstances that required borrowing, and then higher interest rates...not that it ever became difficult to borrow.

I understand why we might be able to infer choice (A), but if there's anything I've learned in a lot of RC passages, it's to look for a direct line reference, and that frustrated me here.