SAT #9 Reading (Questions 37 & 38)

Question

Based on Passage 2, which statement best reflects Pendleton's view of the Articles of Confederation?

Answer 1

37.R.9 & 38.R.9 (hard)

Answer Choices D and C are the correct answers, because Lines 79-83 give the best evidence of Pendleton’s view of the Articles of Confederation, that is was not the “Confederation, but common danger, and the spirit of America, were bonds of our union: union and unanimity, and not that insignificant paper, carried us through that dangerous war.” In others words, he finds the Confederation “insignificant,” especially in carrying the United States through “that dangerous war.” This most closely matches Answer Choice D, that the Articles of Confederation “had little to do with America’s having prevailed in its most recent conflict.” None of the other answer choices for Question 38 give us Pendleton’s strongest view of the Articles of Confederation, and none of the other answer choices for Question 37 match our Relevant Text.

How to solve this? Question 37 asks, “Based on Passage 2, which statement best reflects Pendleton’s view of the Articles of Confederation?” Because this is a Paired Question, we should begin by going through the answer choices for Question 38, looking for any and all texts that give us an expression of Pendleton’s view of the Articles. Answer Choice A, describes Mr. Henry’s “great uneasiness” at the proposal to change the government, which doesn’t give us Pendleton’s view, so we should eliminate this option. Answer Choice B says, “the representatives of the people, by their authority, is a mode wholly inessential.” The meaning of these lines in context can be difficult, but they essentially state that power should rest in the people, and that the state representatives via their authority are not essential. We could draw an implicit connection between this text and Pendleton’s possible view of the Articles of Confederation, but it would be very weak and we should only consider it if we find no other option. Answer Choice C says, “Not that Confederation, but common danger, and the spirit of America, were bonds of our union: union and unanimity, and not that insignificant paper, carried us through that dangerous war.” This does tell us a clear view that Pendleton has of the Confederation (an “insignificant paper”), so we should keep this option. Answer Choice D continues off the previous lines, and says that the refrain “United, we stand — divided we fall!” echoed throughout America and brought it a positive outcome in the war. This answer choice essentially continues the point made in Answer Choice C, but focuses on how it was the spirit of union and unanimity in America that brought us through the war, not the Articles of Confederation. We could draw a weak implicit connection between these lines and Pendleton’s view of the Confederation, but, compared to Answer Choice C, these lines are relatively weak. Thus we should choose Answer Choice C for Question 38. A note — even if we don’t fully understand the meaning of the lines cited in Answer Choices B and D, we can still choose the correct option by looking for the lines that give the clearest statement of Pendleton’s view of the Confederation.

Answer Choice C for Question 38 make the case that it was “not the Confederation” that brought us through “that dangerous war,” but instead the “bonds of our union: union and unanimity.” He ultimately calls the Articles of Confederation an “insignificant paper.” Thus, for Question 37, we should the answer choice that describes his view of the Articles as being irrelevant or not important. Answer Choice A says that Pendelton views them as, “a source of great concern to a large number of American citizens.” This doesn’t match any of our texts, or our chosen text, so we should eliminate this option. Answer Choice B says that Pendleton views the Articles as giving “too much power to the elected representatives,” which also doesn’t match our text. Answer Choice C says that Pendleton views the Articles as serving “too much power to the elected representatives,” which is opposite to his point of view that they were “insignificant.” Answer Choice C says that the Articles ‘had little to do with America’s having prevailed in its most recent conflict,” which does match his view of them being “insignificant.” Thus, we should choose Answer Choice D for Question 37.