PT101.S4.P4.Q21 > Analytics

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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)

21.

Which one of the following ████ █████████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████████

Question Type

Main point

The passage is a critique of Williams’ hypothesis about why Britain abolished slavery. Williams thinks the reason is that slave colonies had become a drain on the economy. The author presents two alternative hypotheses: Drescher’s and Eltis’. Drescher says that populist activism, rather than economics, is the reason Britain abolished slavery. Eltis, meanwhile, says that economics are the reason—just not in the way Williams thought. Williams thought slavery had become outright infeasible, while Eltis thinks voluntary labor just offered better results.

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Anti-supported. Neither concedes that moral persuasion by abolitionists was a significant factor. In fact, Drescher outright rejects that view.

18%

Although both Drescher ███ █████ ████ ██████████ █████████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██████ █████████ █████████ ██ ████████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ████ ██ █████████ ███████████

According to Williams, the motivation behind Britain’s abolition of slavery was that slave colonies had become a drain on the economy. Both Drescher and Eltis question that hypothesis and offer their own alternative explanations, though Eltis’ hypothesis still supports Williams’ general idea that abolition was motivated by economic factors.

56%

Because he has █████ ████ ███████ ███ ████████ ███████████████ ██ ███████ █████████████ ██████████ ███████████ ██ ████ █████████ █████████ █████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███████ ████ ██████████ ████ ████ ██ ██████

The author doesn’t suggest that Drescher’s explanation is better than Eltis’. In fact, she points out that Drescher’s hypothesis is lacking, and Eltis helps fill in the gaps.

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This is only true of Drescher. Eltis does give an explanation: voluntary labor and higher wages fueled “want creation,” which in turn stimulated the economy. This garnered widespread support for voluntary labor over slave labor: it was economically better for everyone.

Although flawed in ███████ █████████ █████████ ███████████ █████████ ███ ████████ █████████ ██ ███████ █████ ████████ █████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███████ ████ ████ ███████ ███████████

Anti-supported. Eltis suggests that Williams had it wrong about the economic condition of British slave colonies. Williams thought they’d become economically infeasible. Eltis argues that they weren’t infeasible; rather, voluntary labor just offered better results. The only “vindication” Williams gets is when Eltis agrees that abolition was motivated by economic factors in general. But Williams is still wrong about the economic condition of slave colonies specifically.

16%

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