The English Who in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries Inhabited those Colonies GMAT Reading Comprehension

Reading Passage Question

The English who in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries inhabited those colonies that would later become the United States shared a common political vocabulary with the English in England. Steeped as they were in the English political language, these colonials failed to observe that their experience in America had given the words a significance quite different from that accepted by the English with whom they debated; in fact, they claimed that they were more loyal to the English political tradition than were the English in England.

In many respects the political institutions of England were reproduced in these American colonies. By the middle of the eighteenth century, all of these colonies except four were headed by Royal Governors appointed by the King and perceived as bearing a relation to the people of the colony similar to that of the King to the English people. Moreover, each of these colonies enjoyed a representative assembly, which was consciously modeled, in powers and practices, after the English Parliament. In both England and these colonies, only property holders could vote.

Nevertheless, though English and colonial institutions were structurally similar, attitudes toward those institutions differed. For example, English legal development from the early seventeenth century had been moving steadily toward the absolute power of Parliament. The most unmistakable sign of this tendency was the legal assertion that the King was subject to the law. Together with this resolute denial of the absolute right of kings went the assertion that Parliament was unlimited in its power: it could change even the Constitution by its ordinary acts of legislation. By the eighteenth century the English had accepted the idea that the parliamentary representatives of the people were omnipotent.

The citizens of these colonies did not look upon the English Parliament with such fond eyes, nor did they concede that their own assemblies possessed such wide powers. There were good historical reasons for this. To the English the word “constitution” meant the whole body of law and legal custom formulated since the beginning of the kingdom, whereas to these colonials a constitution was a specific written document, enumerating specific powers. This distinction in meaning can be traced to the fact that the foundations of government in the various colonies were written charters granted by the Crown. These express authorizations to govern were tangible, definite things. Over the years these colonials had often repaired the charters to justify themselves in the struggle against tyrannical governors or officials of the Crown. More than a century of government under written constitutions convinced these colonists of the necessity for and efficacy of protecting their liberties against governmental encroachment by explicitly defining all governmental powers in a document.

“The English who in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries inhabited those colonies”- is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with answers. Candidates need a strong knowledge of English GMAT reading comprehension.

This GMAT Reading Comprehension consists of 7 comprehension questions. The GMAT Reading Comprehension questions are designed for the purpose of testing candidates’ abilities in understanding, analyzing, and applying information or concepts. Candidates can actively prepare with the help of GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice Questions.

Solution and Explanation

1. Which one of the following best expresses the main idea of the passage?

(A) The colonials and the English mistakenly thought that they shared a common political vocabulary.
(B) The colonials and the English shared a variety of institutions.
(C) The colonials and the English had conflicting interpretations of the language and institutional structures that they shared.
(D) Colonial attitudes toward English institutions grew increasingly hostile in the eighteenth century.
(E) Seventeenth-century English legal development accounted for colonial attitudes toward constitutions.

2. The passage supports all of the following statements about the political conditions present by the middle of the eighteenth century in the American colonies discussed in the passage EXCEPT:

(A) Colonials who did not own property could not vote.
(B) All of these colonies had representative assemblies modeled after the British Parliament.
(C) Some of these colonies had Royal Governors.
(D) Royal Governors could be removed from office by colonial assemblies.
(E) In these colonies, Royal Governors were regarded as serving a function like that of a king.

3. The passage implies which one of the following about English kings prior to the early seventeenth century?

(A) They were the source of all law.
(B) They frequently flouted laws made by Parliament.
(C) Their power relative to that of Parliament was considerably greater than it was in the eighteenth century.
(D) They were more often the sources of legal reform than they were in the eighteenth century.
(E) They had to combat those who believed that the power of Parliament was absolute.

4. The author mentions which one of the following as evidence for the eighteenth-century English attitude toward Parliament?

(A) The English had become uncomfortable with institutions that could claim absolute authority.
(B) The English realized that their interests were better guarded by Parliament than by the King.
(C) The English allowed Parliament to make constitutional changes by legislative enactment.
(D) The English felt that the King did not possess the knowledge that would enable him to rule responsibly.
(E) The English had decided that it was time to reform their representative government.

5. The passage implies that the colonials discussed in the passage would have considered which one of the following to be a source of their debates with England?

(A) their changed use of the English political vocabulary
(B) English commitment to parliamentary representation
(C) their uniquely English experience
(D) their refusal to adopt any English political institutions
(E) their greater loyalty to the English political traditions

6. According to the passage, the English attitude toward the English Constitution differed from the colonial attitude toward constitutions in that the English regarded their Constitution as

(A) the legal foundation of the kingdom
(B) a document containing a collection of customs
(C) a cumulative corpus of legislation and legal traditions
(D) a record alterable by royal authority
(E) an unchangeable body of governmental powers

7. The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) expose the misunderstanding that has characterized descriptions of the relationship between seventeenth- and eighteenth-century England and certain of its American colonies
(B) suggest a reason for England’s treatment of certain of its American colonies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
(C) settle an ongoing debate about the relationship between England and certain of its American colonies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
(D) interpret the events leading up to the independence of certain of England’s American colonies in the eighteenth century
(E) explain an aspect of the relationship between England and certain of its American colonies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries

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