Critical Reasoning

Tocqueville, a nineteenth-century writer known for his study of democracy in the United States, believed that a government that centralizes power in one individual or institution is dangerous to its citizens. Biographers claim that Tocqueville disliked centralized government because he blamed Napoleon’s rule for the poverty of his childhood in Normandy.
Which of the following, if true, would cast the most serious doubt on the biographers’ claim?
(A) Although Napoleon was popularly blamed at the time for the terrible living conditions in Normandy, historians now know that bad harvests were really to blame for the poor economic conditions.
(B) Napoleon was notorious for refusing to share power with any of his political associates.
(C) Tocqueville said he knew that if his father had not suffered ill health, his family would have had a steady income and a comfortable standard of living.
(D) Although Tocqueville asserted that United States political life was democratic, the United States of the nineteenth century allowed political power to be concentrated in a few institutions.
(E) Tocqueville once wrote in a letter that, although his childhood was terribly impoverished, it was not different from the experience of his friends and neighbors in Normandy.

Answ: C

At first I thought the answer should be A.

Please explain your thoughts.

Thanks!

Hi,

We are asked to weaken the conclusion that T disliked central governments for the specific reason that he blamed N for his childhood poverty.

All answer choices are deemed true. Even if we take (A) as true -- that scholars NOW know that N was not to blame for poverty even though people then did blame N -- we cannot form a judgment as to what T believed at the time. T could have unfairly blamed him, as it seems many people did. Thus (A) does not cast doubt on the conclusion that T disliked central governments specifically because of his (perhaps wrong) belief about N's effect on T's childhood.

On the other hand, if we take (C) as true -- that T grew up to believe that his father was to blame for their poverty -- then we know that he put the blame on someone other than N. Thus, his dislike of central governments did not stem from a blame of N for his family's poverty but from something else. The biographers are wrong.

Cheers,

The official answer is A. But I don't understand why? Can anyone explain