<P> M. Thomas Inge defines agrarianism by the following basic tenets: </P> <Ul> <Li> Farming is the sole occupation that offers total independence and self - sufficiency . </Li> <Li> Urban life, capitalism, and technology destroy independence and dignity and foster vice and weakness . </Li> <Li> The agricultural community, with its fellowship of labor and co-operation, is the model society . </Li> <Li> The farmer has a solid, stable position in the world order . He "has a sense of identity, a sense of historical and religious tradition, a feeling of belonging to a concrete family, place, and region, which are psychologically and culturally beneficial ." The harmony of his life checks the encroachments of a fragmented, alienated modern society . </Li> <Li> Cultivation of the soil "has within it a positive spiritual good" and from it the cultivator acquires the virtues of "honor, manliness, self - reliance, courage, moral integrity, and hospitality ." They result from a direct contact with nature and, through nature, a closer relationship to God . The agrarian is blessed in that he follows the example of God in creating order out of chaos . </Li> </Ul> <Li> Farming is the sole occupation that offers total independence and self - sufficiency . </Li> <Li> Urban life, capitalism, and technology destroy independence and dignity and foster vice and weakness . </Li>

What did it mean to believe in republican agrarianism