Actually, Kevin, you would have to study the history of the US during the War of 1812. Westerners in those days would be the Tennesseans, Kentuckians, Louisiana Purchase folks. These were, arguably, the ones that were the most ready to fight the Brits. They saw themselves as true Americans. In NYC and Boston, and throughout New England, there were many who still considered themselves Loyalists. They wanted the country to remain the original 13, and saw themselves as dependent on sea trade with England. It was the westerners who supported the President, and allowed the second war of independence to be successful. It was said of this war that they won independence in the Revolutionary War, but they proved they deserved in during the War of 1812. It was the British they fought, it was the Crown they fought, and their was a dramatic difference in tone between those who followed Andrew Jackson, and the New Englanders. The defining American attitude probably evolved more from the frontiersmen/soldiers than the Easterners.

Mick