The 1800s US was a primarily rural nation “with most people living on farms or in small towns and villages” (“Rural Life in the Late 19th Century.” Library of Congress). Few towns existed, and cities were not yet built. Modern technology, such as the internet, television, microwaves, and even tractors and cars weren’t yet invented. Farm work had to be done by hand or using horses, oxen, and simplistic tools, including hoes, plows, yokes, and scythes. In fact, “new machines for use in farming were invented in this period, but horses, oxen, and people still provided most of the power that operated the machinery” (“Rural Life in the Late 19th Century”). Although farmers produced “cash crops (crops grown for sale),” they were still “remarkably self-sufficient, often making or trading for nearly everything required by their own families” (“Rural Life in the Late 19th Century”). Agricultural Life and Self-sufficiency is a major theme in Farmer Boy: Almanzo’s family raises their own food for themselves and their animals, chops their own wood, slaughters cows to eat, and shears the sheep for wool to make their own clothes.