MASON AND DIXON'S LINE. The boun dary line between the States of :Maryland and Pennsylvania, as run by two distinguished Eng lish surveyors. Charles Alason and -Jeremiah Dixon, :luring the years 1763-07, and popu larly accepted prior to the Civil 'War as the dividing line between the free States and the slave States. 'flit. line was the result of a dis pute between the States of :Maryland and Penn sylvania over their respective boundaries as de seribed in tia.ir charters. The chief contro versy turned upon the meaning of the phrases 'the beginning of the 40°' and 'the beginning of the -13° of N. Lat.' employed in the description of the Pennsylvania noundary. The quarrel, in which Lord Baltimore l'enn soon engaged, continued for more than eighty years; was the calise of endless trouble betNNTell individuals, a lid occupied the attention of the proprietors of both provinces, the Lords of Trade and Plantations, the High Court of Chancery. and the Privy Colon-its of three kings. No compromise Was reached during the life of Penn, but, after his death, his sons succeeded in obtaining from Charle.s, Lord Baltimore. in 1732, an agree ment by which the boundary line was to be drawn by commissioners repiesenting both par ties to the eiffitroversy. Baltimore at 011(e came over with Iii• commissioners, hut was unable to get the Pennsylvania proprietors to take action. The unsettled condition of the boundary, there fore, continued and with it increasing disturb ances in the disputed territory. The I:overly-n (1f :Maryland then laid the matter before the Pro prietary and the King. and invoked their inter 111 ion for the settlement of the dispute. By an order in Contieil the Icing commanded both sides lo keep the peace and instruoted the Proprie taries to grant no land, in the disputed territory until the bootillary could he adjusted, Pending a decision of the by the English Court of Chancery, to which the matter was submitted in 1735. both parties agreed upon It provisional
houndary. derision was linally re ached in 1730 by the Chaneellor, Lord Ilardwieke, which. with the agreement of 1732, served as the basis of a compromise between the proprietors in 17110. Commis...inners representing both sides were op poitilcil, and the eastern boundary was deter mined. elan the cast and west line, as as other part, unsettled, 'Mason /11111 Dixon were appointed in 17113. and at oiler entered upon their task. Bv the year 1767 they had carried the line over the monntains to a point 211 miles fr the Delaware Rive:. Farther advanee was stopped by the Indians, but the line was subse quently completed by others. The boundary was marked by mile-stones, every fifth one having tile arms of Baltimore engraved on one side and those of Penn on the other. Its exact latitude is 39° 43' 2113" North. A resurvey of the line was made in 1S49, and in 1900 another resurvey was authorized by the States of Pennsylvania and _Maryland, the work being placed under the direc tion of the co lllll tission consisting of the Superin tendent of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. the Secretary of Internal Affairs of Pennsylvania, and the Director of the Geological Survey of Maryland. Consult: Browne, Mary land, the History of a Palatinate (Boston, 1):184); Donaldson, The Public Domain (3d ed., Washington. IS84) : and Hinsdale, The Old Y until west ( Boston, 1899),