Like subordinationists,
diffusionists acknowledged that slavery was an evil institution, but, unlike their colleagues, they believed that the expansion of slavery over a broader territory, when coupled with a colonization program, offered the only mechanism for the system's gradual demise.(22)
Thomas's "Victorian Transplant" model does not go unchallenged.(36) Those identified as "American
Diffusionists" charge that one should not overlook the effects that environmental, materialistic, day-to-day restrictions placed on leisurely frontier living.(37) Both groups acknowledge various influences derived from English cultural traditions, Canadian law enforcement bodies, and American cowboying, but it is the degree to which these influences affected the overall nature of the ranch which is undecided.