The Mason Dixon line was a divide that I knew little about, other in fact that it maybe was also intertwined somehow in the American Civil War. In fact its far more interesting than that ..
Firstly, it was actually drawn by two British boys ..... Baker's son Charles Mason and lapsed Quaker Jeremiah Dixon. They were British scientists, and already known as master surveyors and astronomers, when they were asked to intervene in the long running land dispute between the two American colonies of Maryland and Pennsylvania in 1763 AD.
The two colonies were in fact virtually the private fiefdoms of the Calvert family of Maryland, and the Penns of Pennsylvania, and for years a dispute over the border between these colonies had rumbled on, occasionally breaking out into armed struggles between the militias ... the conflict was known as the Cresaps War.
The fighting only ended in May 1738, with the personal intervention of King George II, who forced both sides to sign a cease-fire. But that didn't settle the dispute. There was about 4,000 sq miles of territory that was in dispute, with the importance based upon who gathered the taxes for this land.
This is where the two British lads step into history. There were no accurate border maps between the states and local surveyors were not trusted to do the job .... so Mason and Dixon were asked to undertake the task. So between 1763 and 1767, they mapped the wilderness borders between between Maryland and Delaware, and then the more recognised 233-mile (375km) west to east divide between Pennsylvania and Maryland, which bears their names. It was a remarkable piece of work, with the accuracy so extraordinary, that it represents the first geodetic survey in the New World.
They also put up limestone markers measuring up to 5ft (1.5m) high - nearly 400 of them quarried and transported from England - with every mile and marked with a P for Pennsylvania and M for Maryland on each side. Every five miles so-called Crown stones were positioned and engraved with the Penn family's coat of arms on one side and the Calvert family's on the other. They submitted a bill for £3,516.9s - estimated as the equivalent of about £500,000 today - for the work.
Sadly both the lads died in relative obscurity, ending up in unmarked graves thousands of miles apart, and both remain virtually unknown in their home country. Perhaps the whole achievement would have become a footnote in US history but for later events. The term "Mason-Dixon Line" was officially used in what became known as the Missouri Compromise was passed in 1820. This allowed both slave-owning states such as Missouri and free slave states such as Maine, to both join the union.
When the Civil War broke out in 1861, the term the "Mason-Dixon Line" was used to describe the border line demarcation between the North and South sides in the civil war.
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| The Maryland and Pennsylvania Markers placed every mile and five miles. |
Firstly, it was actually drawn by two British boys ..... Baker's son Charles Mason and lapsed Quaker Jeremiah Dixon. They were British scientists, and already known as master surveyors and astronomers, when they were asked to intervene in the long running land dispute between the two American colonies of Maryland and Pennsylvania in 1763 AD.
The two colonies were in fact virtually the private fiefdoms of the Calvert family of Maryland, and the Penns of Pennsylvania, and for years a dispute over the border between these colonies had rumbled on, occasionally breaking out into armed struggles between the militias ... the conflict was known as the Cresaps War.
The fighting only ended in May 1738, with the personal intervention of King George II, who forced both sides to sign a cease-fire. But that didn't settle the dispute. There was about 4,000 sq miles of territory that was in dispute, with the importance based upon who gathered the taxes for this land.
 |
| The Mason Dixon Line - A Feat Of Surveying |
This is where the two British lads step into history. There were no accurate border maps between the states and local surveyors were not trusted to do the job .... so Mason and Dixon were asked to undertake the task. So between 1763 and 1767, they mapped the wilderness borders between between Maryland and Delaware, and then the more recognised 233-mile (375km) west to east divide between Pennsylvania and Maryland, which bears their names. It was a remarkable piece of work, with the accuracy so extraordinary, that it represents the first geodetic survey in the New World.
They also put up limestone markers measuring up to 5ft (1.5m) high - nearly 400 of them quarried and transported from England - with every mile and marked with a P for Pennsylvania and M for Maryland on each side. Every five miles so-called Crown stones were positioned and engraved with the Penn family's coat of arms on one side and the Calvert family's on the other. They submitted a bill for £3,516.9s - estimated as the equivalent of about £500,000 today - for the work.
 |
| Their Legacy Has Lasted The Centuries |
Sadly both the lads died in relative obscurity, ending up in unmarked graves thousands of miles apart, and both remain virtually unknown in their home country. Perhaps the whole achievement would have become a footnote in US history but for later events. The term "Mason-Dixon Line" was officially used in what became known as the Missouri Compromise was passed in 1820. This allowed both slave-owning states such as Missouri and free slave states such as Maine, to both join the union.
When the Civil War broke out in 1861, the term the "Mason-Dixon Line" was used to describe the border line demarcation between the North and South sides in the civil war.
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