American Mythos is frequently concerned with the idea of the “Virgin Land.” This romantic ideology sets nature in binary opposition to itself: it is both “The Wild West”—forceful, full of danger and danger—and a fertile land that can be domesticated and support life. American Agrarianism aggrandizes the later, arguing that the West holds the key to the American future; that key is agriculture and farming. In Virgin Land: The American West as Symbol and Myth, Henry Nash Smith argues, “Agriculture is the only source of real wealth; that every man has a natural right to land...[and] that the government should be dedicated to the interests of the freehold farmer” (CR 126). In doing so, Nash indicates that the American economy is in the hands of the farmer and, thus, theorizes the farm as central to American success.