The Mason-Dixon Line
The Mason-Dixon Line is a dividing cultural, political and social boundary between the four states of the United States which forms the borders of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia. Between 1763 and 1767, the line was surveyed by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon to resolve the dispute between British colonies in America about the borders. Leading up and during to the American Civil War (1861-1865), the Mason-Dixon line then was regarded as a line that divided the Northern and Southern states from anti-slavery and pro-slavery respectively.
Runaway slaves and legally free slaves that were living anywhere near the Mason-Dixon line were unsafe and vulnerable as they were more likely to get kidnapped by slave-catchers who operated in Maryland. Patty Cannon, a famous slave kidnapper ran a tavern (business establishment for serving drinks) on the Delaware-Maryland line. She, along with her son-in-law Joe Johnson, seized black slaves and transported them to the Southern states for sale by hiding them in her house or tying them to a tree with shackles.
The Mason-Dixon Line was important for it represented freedom for many African Americans escaping slavery in the Southern states. The Underground Railroad provided food and limited shelter and guided slaves across the line making the line a very significant role in the lives of slaves.
In the 1800s the Mason-Dixon Line was know as the line that divided the free states and slave slates from the Missouri Compromise of 1820 until the end of the Civil War in 1865. During the Congressional debates leading up to the Missouri Compromise of 1820, the term "Mason-Dixon line" was used to specify the existing boundary between the free states and slave states making it important to the history of slavery in the United States. The debate focused on slavery and abolition and whether new states entering should be free or slave states. The line suddenly acquired new significance as the Missouri Compromise of 1820 designated the Mason-Dixon line as the separation between the North and South.
This is a 1864 hand coloured map of the states of Maryland and Delaware by the American map Publisher A. J. Johnson. Made during the Civil war, this map includes a paragraph notation on the surveying of the boundary between Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, called the “Mason Dixon Line”. 1864
Runaway slaves and legally free slaves that were living anywhere near the Mason-Dixon line were unsafe and vulnerable as they were more likely to get kidnapped by slave-catchers who operated in Maryland. Patty Cannon, a famous slave kidnapper ran a tavern (business establishment for serving drinks) on the Delaware-Maryland line. She, along with her son-in-law Joe Johnson, seized black slaves and transported them to the Southern states for sale by hiding them in her house or tying them to a tree with shackles.
The Mason-Dixon Line was important for it represented freedom for many African Americans escaping slavery in the Southern states. The Underground Railroad provided food and limited shelter and guided slaves across the line making the line a very significant role in the lives of slaves.
In the 1800s the Mason-Dixon Line was know as the line that divided the free states and slave slates from the Missouri Compromise of 1820 until the end of the Civil War in 1865. During the Congressional debates leading up to the Missouri Compromise of 1820, the term "Mason-Dixon line" was used to specify the existing boundary between the free states and slave states making it important to the history of slavery in the United States. The debate focused on slavery and abolition and whether new states entering should be free or slave states. The line suddenly acquired new significance as the Missouri Compromise of 1820 designated the Mason-Dixon line as the separation between the North and South.
This is a 1864 hand coloured map of the states of Maryland and Delaware by the American map Publisher A. J. Johnson. Made during the Civil war, this map includes a paragraph notation on the surveying of the boundary between Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, called the “Mason Dixon Line”. 1864