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.
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
25.
It can be inferred that ███ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ █████ ██████████ ████████████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ██████████ ███████ ██
Question Type
Author’s attitude
Implied
The author gives us a hint of her view on this when she introduces Eltis’ response to Drescher. She says that Eltis eschews (i.e., avoids) Drescher’s idealized view of British traditions of liberty. Calling Drescher’s view an “idealization” suggests that she thinks Drescher was being overly positive about British traditions of liberty.
a
accurately stated
Anti-supported. The author calls Drescher’s view an “idealization,” which suggests she thinks Drescher was being overly positive, rather than accurate, about British traditions of liberty.
b
somewhat unrealistic
Supported. We get a hint of the author’s view on this when she calls Drescher’s view an “idealization.” The author must think Drescher was being excessively positive, and so not entirely realistic, about British traditions of liberty.
c
carefully researched
Slightly anti-supported. The only commentary the author gives on the quality of Drescher’s research is that he fails to explain how abolition gained such widespread support across class boundaries. If anything, the author seems to think that Drescher’s research isn’t good enough.
d
unnecessarily tentative
Anti-supported. The author calls Drescher’s view an “idealization,” which suggests she thinks Drescher was being excessively positive—i.e., not reserved or tentative enough—in how he presents British traditions of liberty.
e
superficially convincing
Unsupported. For this to be right, the author would have to suggest that Drescher’s explanation looks good at first glance. But she doesn’t suggest that. She simply lays out Drescher’s argument, notes that it fails to answer a key question, and then calls his view an “idealization, meaning she thinks Drescher was being overly positive about British traditions of liberty.
Difficulty
67% of people who answer get this correct
This is a difficult question.
It is somewhat easier than other questions in this passage.
CURVE
Score of students with a 50% chance of getting this right
25%143
157
75%171
Analysis
Author’s attitude
Implied
Critique or debate
Humanities
Phenomenon-hypothesis
Answer Popularity
PopularityAvg. score
a
6%
160
b
67%
166
c
6%
160
d
4%
159
e
18%
164
Question history
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