Question

Which statement best explains how the authors develop their claim across the two passages?

Both passages use evidence to develop the claim that the general public needed to know about the terrors of involuntary servitude.
Both passages use evidence to develop the claim that Eastern European farmers and enslaved people on sugar plantations shared a common goal.
Both passages use evidence to show that knowledge of the extreme brutality of the sugar trade changed viewpoints about enslavement.
Both passages use evidence to support the claim that lawmakers had more power and influence than abolitionists had.

Answer 1

Both passages use evidence to develop the claim that the general public needed to know about the terrors of involuntary servitude.

Justification: each author marshals vivid details and documentary evidence of brutality to persuade readers that public awareness was necessary to recognize the moral wrong and prompt reform. The other choices are weaker because they assert a shared goal between very different groups (2), focus narrowly on the sugar trade alone (3), or emphasize lawmakers’ power rather than the authors’ appeal to public knowledge (4).