In the passage, the author is primarily concerned with

shunhe on August 13, 2020

Hi @James-Nash,

Thanks for the question! So we’re being asked here for the primary concern of the passage. Remember, the primary concern needs to be something that’s both supported by the passage, and something that’s actually the primary concern(as opposed to something that’s just briefly mentioned). This is also a good thing to be able to think about in your head before you look at the answer choices, to see which answer choice matches up with what you thought it was.

So how can we kind of sum up this passage? Well, it’s about the War Powers Resolution, and about how it’s helped Congress play a role in sending soldiers into undeclared wars. Now let’s take a look at (B): the passage argues that the War Powers Resolution of 1973 is an attempt to reclaim a share of constitutional concurrent power that has been usurped by the President. There’s a lot here, but it seems to be going along the same line as what we mentioned above. So let’s see if these details are right. Well, we’re told in the first paragraph that “the spirit if the Constitution at least requires that congress should be involved in the decision to deploy troops, and in passing the War Powers Resolution of 1973, Congress has at last reclaimed a role in such decisions” (lines 21-25). And in the next two paragraphs, Congress’s loss of this power is described, and finally how it regained it. Well, it does seem like the author is “arguing” for this, since the author feels so strongly about how the Constitution says that Congress should have a role to play in deciding when troops get sent somewhere. It’s not just a historical account—that’s obviously a large part of it, but there’s a reason for this historical account. And it’s to support the argument in (B), which makes it the main point and the correct answer.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.