By the time the American colonists took up arms against

Question

By the time the American colonists took up arms against Great Britain in order to secure their independence, the institution of Black slavery was deeply entrenched. But the contradiction inherent in this situation was, for many, a source of constant embarrassment. “It always appeared a most iniquitous scheme to me,” Abigail Adams wrote her husband in 1774, “to fight ourselves for what we are daily robbing and plundering from those who have as good a right to freedom as we have.”
Many Americans besides Abigail Adams were struck by the inconsistency of their stand during the War of Independence, and they were not averse to making moves to emancipate the slaves. Quakers and other religious groups organized antislavery societies, while numerous individuals manumitted their slaves. In fact, within several years of the end of the War of Independence, most of the Eastern states had made provisions for the gradual emancipation of slaves.

1. Which of the following best states the central idea of the passage?
(A) The War of Independence produced among many Black Americans a heightened consciousness of the inequities in American society.
(B) The War of Independence strengthened the bonds of slavery of many Black Americans while intensifying their desire to be free.
(C) The War of Independence exposed to many Americans the contradiction of slavery in a country seeking its freedom and resulted in efforts to resolve that contradiction.
(D) The War of Independence provoked strong criticisms by many Americans of the institution of slavery, but produced little substantive action against it.
(E) The War of Independence renewed the efforts of many American groups toward achieving Black emancipation.

2.The passage contains information that would support which of the following statements about the colonies before the War of Independence?
(A) They contained organized antislavery societies.
(B) They allowed individuals to own slaves.
(C) They prohibited religious groups from political action.
(D) They were inconsistent in their legal definitions of slave status.
(E) They encouraged abolitionist societies to expand their influence.

3.According to the passage, the War of Independence was embarrassing to some Americans for which of the following reasons?
I. It involved a struggle for many of the same liberties that Americans were denying to others.
II. It involved a struggle for independence from the very nation that had founded the colonies.
III. It involved a struggle based on inconsistencies in the participants’ conceptions of freedom.
(A) I only
(B) II only
(C) I and II only
(D) I and III only
(E) I, II, and III

4.Which of the following statements regarding American society in the years immediately following the War of Independence is best supported by the passage?
(A) The unexpected successes of the antislavery societies led to their gradual demise in the Eastern states.
(B) Some of the newly independent American states had begun to make progress toward abolishing slavery.
(C) Americans like Abigail Adams became disillusioned with the slow progress of emancipation and gradually abandoned the cause.
(D) Emancipated slaves gradually were accepted in the Eastern states as equal members of American society.
(E) The abolition of slavery in many Eastern states was the result of close cooperation between religious groups and free Blacks.

Can someone be more specific with question 3?

CrimsonFury · Answer

1. C
2. B
3. D
4. B

Let me know how I did.

nevergiveup · Answer

I got the following:

1. C
2. B
3. A
4. D

For number 3, II is not mentioned in the passage at all. Paragraph 2 does mention III somehow, but the embarrassment is only mentioned in the first paragraph. So use POE I got A for question 3.

namurad · Answer

I go for 

1C
2B
3D
4B

jimjohn · Answer

what are the OA's?
i got the same answers as eileen: C, B, A, D

eyunni · Answer

OAs are:
1.C
2.B
3.A
4.B

eyunni · Answer

Question 3 starts with "According to the passage...". I read in some RC Tips/Notes that such questions are EXPLICIT DETAIL questions. I want to confirm this first. If it is indeed an explicit detail question, then A it should be. III is probably an inference but not explicitly mentioned. Do you people agree?

cstefanita · Answer

Yep, I've encountered the same

nevergiveup · Answer

When I do the detail questions, I always go to the specific place to find things. If something is mentioned in the passage, but too far away from the place you want to look for, it could be a distortion. 

By the way, do you have the OE for number 4? I don't understand why the answer is B. I think it reference back to the last sentence of paragraph 2. Where do they mention about abolishing slavery?

eyunni · Answer

There is no OE. 
From the last paragraph:
In fact, within several years of the end of the War of Independence, most of the Eastern states  had made provisions for the gradual emancipation of slaves . 

(B) Some of the newly independent American states had begun to make progress toward abolishing slavery. 
--More in line with the last sentence of the paragraph.
(D) Emancipated slaves gradually were accepted in the Eastern states as equal members of American society. 
--How do you know that they are equal? Only provisions were made but that does not mean that emancipated slaves were accepted as equal. IMO, that is a little extreme.

spider · Answer

Late but my answers were: C B D B I guess like everyone I feel for D in the third question...tricky

GMATBLACKBELT · Answer

C
B
A
E


I couldnt find anything to support the third statement in the passage for question three. but ur sentence after the passage def. phsyced me out for a good 2 minutes! =)

Not sure why 4 is B. I choose E as a guess. I didn't think E could be ascertained from the passage, but neither did I think could B.

I really think all the choices for 4 stink. I mean if u wanna go on historical terms, the southern states certainly didn't more towards emancipation i.e. the Civil War. I know this is neither here nor there since its outside info, but honestly I dont see how we can accurately assess that the other states decided to follow a similar path. Its a really poor question in my opinion.

VerbalBot · Answer

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By the time the American colonists took up arms against

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