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The foundation of the strong relationship between the trans-Appalachian West and the South was built in the last two decades of the eighteenth century when southerners, led by James Madison, defended the trans-Appalachian West and westerners against northerners' political and economic attacks. Over time many southerners came to believe that the South's political future depended on forging a tight political bond between the South and the trans-Appalachian West. While many historians have taken this close relationship for granted or dismissed it as a natural product of cultural simil