iety of slavery was already “less bad” than in many, if not most, other countries, regardless of what twentieth-century movie and television productions might have you believe. Was the country not already progressive? Another writer of note who is labeled as a progressive historian is Carl Becker. He was a student of Frederick Jackson Turner and submitted as his doctoral dissertation--it was called a thesis at that time--a work entitled “The History of Political Parties in the Province of New York.” In it, Becker writes that the political parties in what became the state of New York were embroiled in a tremendous rivalry. The members of the “conservative” wing wanted only to go so far as to assert their rights as Englishmen, while the radical element desired independence. Becker argues for a compromise interpretation in his conclusion, stating that “although the conservatives were successful in securing a government measurably centralized and measurably aristocratic, we know that there was considerable pressure for a more democratic form” (Becker 1909, 276). In short, Becker describes the desire for a significantly different form of government than that which England had, and existed in the colony before the insurrection. In the end, of course, the form was essentially the same; that is, a bicameral legislature was placed in the stead of Parliament, the President (who likely could have been King George I of America) was substituted for the King of England, and a judicial branch was established to play the role of the British courts. It is significant to mention that the second provincial congress of New York opposed independence from Great Britain at least as late as May 14, 1775 (Becker 1909, 252). It is the extent of suffrage that gives a measure of truth to the progressive argument as symbolized by Becker’s work. The growth of political groups in New York presaged the formation of...
