Untitled Document
A small history lesson.
(The following is taken from:
http://americanhistory.allinfoabout.com/library/colonial/masondixon.html)
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A casual explanation of the Mason-Dixon Line is that it’s the boundary
between the North-South. In reality it grew out of a land dispute between two
prominent Colonial families.
The Calvert family was granted the bulk of the land in the colony of Maryland
by King Charles I in 1632. Almost 50 years later, in 1681, Charles II granted
the Penn family what was to become Pennsylvania. Questions over the border between
the two colonies landed the case in England’s Court Chancery whose 1750
decision declared that the border would be at latitude 39° 43' north.
Thought that was a step in the right direction, it still left room for disagreement.
Finally, in 1767, the Royal Astronomer sent Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon
to the colonies to survey the border. They worked their way west from a point
south of Philadelphia for 58 months, placing markers every five miles.
Though the new “Mason-Dixon Line” settled the Pennsylvania-Maryland
dispute, Pennsylvania and Virginia could not agree on their border either. (On
a modern map this would appear as the border between Pennsylvania and West Virginia.)
They finally achieved resolution in 1781 after a period of time where both operated
courts and there were numerous land disputes in the area that became Greene
County, Pennsylvania.
The idea that the Mason-Dixon Line was the border between North and South,
or free and slave states, most likely developed because the Mason-Dixon line
served as the Eastern end of the line that was drawn west under the 1820 Missouri
Compromise to determine whether new territories and states would be free or
slave.
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Located on Route 2 at the Marshall, Wetzel county line is a small monument
marking the spot where the Mason-Dixon meets the Ohio River.
Next to the monument is a sign.
On the last line are two dates.
The left date is date1.
The right date is date2.
And now for some simple math.
Coordinates for Stage 2 are:
N 39 43.??? ; where ??? = date1 - 1675
W080 49.??? ; where ??? = date2 - 1427