The Mason–Dixon line was surveyed between 1763 and 1767 by Charles Mason
and Jeremiah Dixon in the resolution of a border dispute between British
colonies in Colonial America. It is a demarcation line among four U.S. states,
forming part of the borders of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and West
Virginia (then part of Virginia). In popular usage, the Mason–Dixon line
symbolizes a cultural boundary between the Northeastern and the Southern United
States (Dixie). After Pennsylvania abolished slavery, it was a demarcation line
for the legality of slavery. However, its latitude was not such a demarcation
beyond the Pennsylvania border since Delaware, a slave state, falls north and
east of the boundary. Also lying north and east of the boundary was New Jersey
where, in reality, slavery existed, in limited numbers, until 1865. It was not
until 1846 that New Jersey abolished slavery, but it qualified it by redefining
former slaves as apprentices who were "apprenticed for life" to their
masters. Slavery did not truly end in the state until it was ended nationally
in 1865 after the American Civil War and passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to
the U.S. Constitution. The Missouri Compromise Line had a much more definitive
geographic connection to slavery in the United States leading up to the Civil
War.
Blah, blah, blah. I do not know what ANY of that means (especially the word "demarcation"!). But, the sign was pretty and I love the song about the Mason-Dixon line by Mark Knopfler!
Listen to Mark sing the song live: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTvc-bEP35I
This is the actual survey marker for the Mason-Dixon line.
