When Lincoln was practicing law in Illinois he was involved in cases in Peoria, IL which is 55 to 60 miles from Springfield, IL.
One of the recent annotated versions of The Spoonriver Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters discusses the differing political and social aspects of the two towns where Masters' parents lived; one was more southern in character and the other more eastern; both tend to be north of Springfield, IL.
I am certain some historians knowledgable in the period has documented that "boundaries" between North and South could not be drawn geographically and were a "state" of mind as much as a location.
I suspect that my own ancestors left Tennessee in 1840 because of social conditions including the presence of slavery.