Question

read the passage. there are several questions about this passage.
european papermaking came to the american colonies in the late seventeenth century. although most paper made today is produced from wood pulp, paper in colonial days was made from cotton and linen fibers.

from paper

1
the history of paper offers insight into why the colonists wanted independence from britain. a coin, a paper mill, a newspaper—whatever it was that the colonists wanted, the crown often prohibited it. and then the british tried to earn revenue by taxing the goods the colonists were forced to import from england because local production was stifled.

2
in 1764, the british, looking for revenues in an economic recession that had hit both england and the colonies, proposed the stamp act. this required all american colonists to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper, including shipping documents, legal documents, books, pamphlets, newspapers, broadsides, and even playing cards. the tax did not cost the average colonist a great deal, but they objected to the principle of the new legislation. the stamp act went beyond the normal practice of regulating commerce; it was a hard - currency measure, and one that was being done without the consent of local legislatures.

3
but for newspaper publishers, the stamp act was a true hardship. it demanded a halfpenny on each copy of a newspaper printed on what was termed “half a sheet.” if a newspaper used a larger format, it also incurred a penny per sheet. the act also charged two cents for an advertisement—and some of these ads only earned three cents—and a halfpenny for each copy of

part a
in this passage, what is an important point the author makes about the role of colonial newspapers?
1 the newspapers caused a shortage of paper.
2 the newspapers were responsible for the economic recession.
3 the newspapers had considerable power to arouse change.
4 the newspapers failed to develop local industries.

part b
select two sentences from the passage that best develop the author’s point from part a.
1 “lawyers, whose professions were also taxed heavily by the stamp act, as well, and together, newspaper publishers and lawyers were instrumental in getting the stamp act repealed.” (note: ocr may have minor inaccuracies in this sentence, but the core passage and questions are as above.)

Explanation:

Part A

To solve this, we analyze each option:

• Option 1: The passage doesn't mention a developed shortage of paper due to colonists, so eliminate.
• Option 2: The passage focuses on taxes and restrictions, not colonists' responsibility for currency, eliminate.
• Option 3: The Stamp Act imposed taxes on newspapers (and other printed materials), making it hard for them to avoid cost as they had to pay the tax per copy/advertisement, which matches.
• Option 4: The passage says local production was stifled, not that newspapers failed to develop local industry, eliminate.

We need a sentence that shows the Stamp Act's burden on newspapers. The sentence "Newspapermen, whose prosperity rested also upon... together, newspaper publishers got together and agreed to a contingency to oppose the act" (assuming this is the relevant one) shows the financial burden (taxes) and their response, supporting the Part A point about cost.

Answer:

1. The newspapers had considerable reason to avoid cost

Part B

(Assuming the first sentence in Part B is the relevant one, but since the text is a bit unclear, we'll analyze the likely one. The first sentence in Part B's options likely relates to the Stamp Act's impact on newspapers, which supports the point in Part A about newspapers' cost issues.)