Expansion: A True Agrarian Myth

If expansion is the true American ideal, the western frontier is the impetus and manifest destiny is the justification. This is Americanism at its purest: expansion across and improvement of the lands. The frontier represents an escape from urban life and directly supports Jefferson’s agrarian vision for the American economy. The agrarian myth holds that the most desirable type of society is one with an economy strongly rooted in farming. The myth suggests that a farming lifestyle is a pure one, free from “corruption of morals” and thus suited to being the backbone of a growing nation. However, a true agrarian society requires an “immensity of land” as Jefferson put it, and the American frontier provided an ample supply of land.
These ideas