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Who were Mason and Dixon?Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon were two British astronomers who were also into land surveying. The famous Line was originally drawn in the 1760's to settle a boundary dispute between Maryland and Pennsylvania. Actually, it was a family feud kinda deal since the two states were owned by the quarreling Calvert and Penn families.In the early 1800s, someone noticed that the Line could be a handy marker between the slave and free states. It was already separating Maryland, a slave state, from free Pennsylvania. Therefore the Line got extended. It went along the Ohio River, crossed the Mississippi, and wrapped around Missouri. Even though it is only an imaginary line drawn on maps, the Mason-Dixon Line exists strongly in people's heads. When people get something lodged in their heads it is more true than if it existed as a geographical fact.
--Bo Dixie
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