SAT #15 Reading (Questions 36 & 37)

Question

It can reasonably be inferred from Passage 2 that Bryan considers the preference for national sovereignty over foreign rule to be a [...]?

Answer 1

Answer Choices D and C are the correct answers because Lines 71-73 say, “He never made a race of people so low in the scale of civilization or intelligence that it would welcome a foreign master,” which most clearly tell us how Bryan would consider the preference for sovereignty, or self-government, over foreign rule. These Lines most clearly tell us that this desire for liberty and self-governance is God-given or innate, and most closely matches Answer Choice D which says that the preference is a “manifestation of an innate drive in humans toward self-rule.” For Question 37, Answer Choice A is incorrect because it speaks more particularly about the U.S. and Filipinos and the censure of speech than it does a general preference for sovereignty. Answer Choice B is incorrect because it talks generally about a truth that has been “once spoken” and not about a preference for self-government. Answer Choice D is incorrect because it asks Americans to consider the effect of their policy or argument on their own nation, not about a preference for sovereignty. For Question 36, Answer Choice A is incorrect because neither the Passage nor our Texts discuss how a preference for liberty comes as a reaction to imperialism, but rather presents it as universal and innate. Answer Choice B is incorrect because neither the Passage nor our Texts talk about this preference as a sign of a certain kind of belief. Answer Choice C is incorrect because the Passage, if anything, sets this innate preference at odds with United States foreign policy, and doesn’t claim that it derives from it.

How to solve this? Question 36 asks, “It can reasonably be inferred from Passage 2 that Bryan considers the preference for national sovereignty over foreign rule to be a [...]?” Because this is a Paired Question, to solve it we should begin by going through the answer choices for Question 37, looking for any texts that tell us about what Bryan thinks about a preference for national sovereignty, or self-government, over foreign rule. Answer Choice A says [...].