The encounter with nature assured man of his deserved place at the top of the Darwinian tree of life. Jr. Man and Nature in America. Columbia UP, 1963. The actual drive to dominate nature broke up this ideology. Emerson approached nature through science, that is, man studying nature's design, since nature links man to God.
Man appears to master nature, but actually nature masters man.
This belief in harmony was the most important social criticism of the belief in material progress. After this romantic idea of balance, technological progress became the hope of the future. His diplomatic experience in Turkey and Italy showed him the impact of man on nature. He was concerned especially with forests. Major Powell had no use for the idea of Darwinian progress through submission to nature.