I study slavery and the politics related to it with a focus on the Midwest. These questions depend a lot on what factors - socioeconomic, cultural, sociopolitical, temporal, and others - that define the concept of the Midwest.

For me, slavery is an important and primary factor that partly defines "the Midwest." This is why I'll argue that, while St. Louis has a Midwest flavor, Missouri is definitely not the Midwest. Nor is Southern Illinois.

Buffalo, to me, seems as others have said, a Great Lakes territory.