Self-study
P1
Two impressive studies have reexamined Eric Williams' conclusion that Britain's abolition of the slave trade in 1807 and its emancipation of slaves in its colonies in 1834 were driven primarily by economic rather than humanitarian motives. ████████ ██ ████████ █████ █████████████ ███ ███ ████████████ ██ ███████ ██████ █████ █████████ █████████ ██ █████████ ███ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███████ ████████ █████████
Two Challenges to Williams' Conclusion ·
That British abolitionist movement was primarily driven by economics.
Williams argues that the slave colonies were becoming a drag on the British economy. That's why Britain abolished slavery, not because they thought it was wrong. But two studies question that conclusion.
P2
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1. Drescher's View ·
Populism drove abolition
Drescher downplays economics and morality. Instead argues that it was populist political activism that drove abolition.
Author Concession / Skepticism ·
Drescher's explanation incomplete
Author thinks that Drescher doesn't explain how England could have mobilized such popular support.
P3
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2. Eltis' View ·
Partially supportive of Williams' conclusion
Apparently Eltis does answer the question that the author faults Drescher for not answering...
2. Eltis' View ·
Disagrees with Drescher
Eltis disagrees with Drescher's view that the British traditions of liberty powered abolition.
2. Eltis' View ·
Economics drove abolition
Eltis thinks that "want creation" made slave labor inappropriate and counterproductive.
2. Eltis' conclusion ·
Williams was partly right, partly wrong
It is economics that drove abolition; just not what Williams thought. The slave colonies' economies were fine. But slave labor wasn't good for the broader economy of the British empire.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)
27.
According to the passage, Eltis ██████ ███████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ████████████
a
Popular support for ███████████ ████████ ███████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ██████████ ████████
Eltis doesn’t argue against this. His entire argument is an answer to the question of why this is true: voluntary labor and higher wages led to “
b
In the early ██████████ ████████ ████████ ████ ████████ ██████ █████ ████ █████ ████████████ ███████
Eltis agrees with this. Williams is the one who argues against it—he thinks abolition came about simply because slave colonies
c
British views concerning ████████ ███████ █████████ ██████████████████ ███████ ██████████ ██ ████████
Eltis argues against this explanation and in favor of a different hypothesis. His argument is that British views on liberty
d
Widespread literacy in ███████ ███████████ ██ ██████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ██████████ ████████
Eltis has no stance on this. This is part of Drescher’s argument, but not the part Eltis disagrees with. Drescher says that abolition resulted from “
e
Antislavery measures proposed ██ ████████████ ███████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████████ ███████ ███ ████ ██████ ███████████
Eltis doesn’t argue against this. His entire argument is an answer to the question of why those antislavery measures were so widely supported: voluntary labor and higher wages led to “