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Article: Mason-Dixon Line
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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MASON-DIXON LINE
MASON-DIXON LINE
is the southern boundary line of Pennsylvania, and thereby the northern boundary
line of Delaware, Maryland, and West Virginia, formerly part of Virginia. It is best known historically as the dividing line between slavery and free soil in the period of history before the Civil War, but to some extent it has remained the symbolic border line
—
political, cultural, and social
—
between North and South.
The present Mason and Dixon line was the final result of several highly involved colonial and state boundary disputes. The first dispute was between Maryland and Pennsylvania. The Maryland Charter of 1632 granted to the Calvert family ...