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THE MASON AND DIXON LINE
The Mason and Dixon Line is
the southern boundary line of Pennsylvania and the northern boundaries
of Delaware, Maryland and West Virginia - formerly Virginia.
The boundaries separating Pennsylvania
and Maryland were in dispute when the original territories were
founded.
The issue was finally resolved in 1763
when two English surveyors, with approval from the English Parliament,
Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, mapped the line.
Virginia still disputed the line until
1784 when it was moved slightly westward changing the boundaries
of Maryland and Virginia - or what is now West Virginia.
Before the Civil War, the Mason and
Dixon Line served as the boundary separating slavery and free
territories - the North being free. Today the line still serves
as a symbolic divider between North and South in both a political
and social representation.
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