WEBVTT - How Did the Mason-Dixon Line Come to Divide the North from the South?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogel Bam. Here ask a Southerner where the South begins,

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<v Speaker 1>and you might get answers like where one syllable words

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<v Speaker 1>become two or three, or where the most honored foods

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<v Speaker 1>are grits engravy. In other words, the South should begin

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<v Speaker 1>in Richmond, Virginia, or Lexington, Kentucky, or even Wheeling, West Virginia.

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<v Speaker 1>But the Mason Dixon Line, which has been regarded for

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<v Speaker 1>two hundred years as the transition between the north and

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<v Speaker 1>the South in the United States, turns that conventional sociological

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<v Speaker 1>thinking upside down. The Mason Dixon Line runs between Maryland

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<v Speaker 1>and Pennsylvania and Delaware, which are all three considered northern states.

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<v Speaker 1>So if the Mason Dixon Line really is the dividing

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<v Speaker 1>line between the north and south, why then does it

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<v Speaker 1>put in Maryland in the south. The Mason Dixon Line

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<v Speaker 1>is not some geographical folk paw. It's the result of

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<v Speaker 1>one of the most significant surveying achievements in North America.

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<v Speaker 1>It was named for Charles Mason, and astronomer and Jeremiah Dixon,

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<v Speaker 1>a surveyor who introduced surveying techniques to North America that

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<v Speaker 1>would go on to be used to draw boundary lines

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<v Speaker 1>for western states in the US. We spoke with Todd Babcock,

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<v Speaker 1>a Pennsylvania surveyor and founder of the Mason and Dixon

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<v Speaker 1>Line Preservation Partnership. He said, in many respects, the techniques

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<v Speaker 1>we use today are very similar to those used by

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<v Speaker 1>Mason and Dixon. I used the analogy that Mason and

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<v Speaker 1>Dixon used the constellation of stars to guide them, and

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<v Speaker 1>today we use a constellation of satellites. Mason and Dixon,

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<v Speaker 1>who were English, were hired in seventeen sixty three by

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<v Speaker 1>the King of England to settle a land dispute between

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<v Speaker 1>two aristocratic colonial families then headed by William Penn the

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<v Speaker 1>Second and Charles Calvert. The two families quarreled and fought

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<v Speaker 1>over land for decades. The colonial landowners along the line

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<v Speaker 1>separating the two proprietors land feared being asked to pay

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<v Speaker 1>taxes to both the Pens and the Calverts because both

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<v Speaker 1>families were claiming the same land. So Mason and Dixon

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<v Speaker 1>spent fifty eight months survey being a two hundred and

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<v Speaker 1>thirty three mile that's three seventy four kilometer stretch of

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<v Speaker 1>land from Philadelphia westward. It was mostly wilderness, and they

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<v Speaker 1>established the boundaries of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and what was

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<v Speaker 1>then Virginia and is now West Virginia. It became a

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<v Speaker 1>steadfast boundary. The pens were to the north with Philadelphia

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<v Speaker 1>as their hub, and the calverts to the south with

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<v Speaker 1>Baltimore as their hub. The Mason Dixon line also included

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<v Speaker 1>the eighty three mile that's one hundred and thirty three

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<v Speaker 1>kilometer north south border between what was then Pennsylvania, now

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<v Speaker 1>Delaware and eastern Maryland. The line starts in the southwest

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<v Speaker 1>corner of Delaware and runs north. It was meticulous and

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<v Speaker 1>painstaking work at that time, as the men used the

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<v Speaker 1>stars as guidance to follow a line of latitude. Mason

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<v Speaker 1>and Dixon, with Iroquois guides leading a traveling party of

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<v Speaker 1>about a hundred and twenty axe men, wagon drivers and attendants,

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<v Speaker 1>cut through virgin forest as they went westward. The men

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<v Speaker 1>used in astronomical clock they brought from England to help

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<v Speaker 1>determine the ellipticity of the Earth. Babcock said it added

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<v Speaker 1>to our understanding of the shape of the Earth and

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<v Speaker 1>that it wasn't a perfect sphere, it was bulging in

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<v Speaker 1>the middle, and while Mason and Dixon found that while

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<v Speaker 1>the earth was indeed round, it had undulations. The men

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<v Speaker 1>also used a zenith sector, which is a graduated arc

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<v Speaker 1>of a vertical circle, paired with a telescope and plumb line.

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<v Speaker 1>Their tripod mounted surveying tool, known as a Bird Transit

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<v Speaker 1>after its inventor, John Bird, was thought lost in history's dustbin,

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<v Speaker 1>but was discovered by accident in Philadelphia, restored, and now

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<v Speaker 1>sits an exhibit in Independence Hall. Babcock says the men

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<v Speaker 1>painstakingly placed limestone posts, also brought from England, at each

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<v Speaker 1>mile along the way, while crown stones were set every

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<v Speaker 1>five miles or eight kilometers. These crown stones were carved

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<v Speaker 1>with the letter C on the southern side of the

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<v Speaker 1>rock for Calvert and a P on the northern side

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<v Speaker 1>for Pen. Some stones had the Pen coat of arms

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<v Speaker 1>and others the Calvert coat of arms. Stones were massive

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<v Speaker 1>and weighed as much as five hundred to seven hundred

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<v Speaker 1>pounds that's surround two hundred and twenty to three hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and any kilo's apiece. So when Mason and Dixon and

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<v Speaker 1>the team got to the Appalachian Mountains around Hancock, Maryland.

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<v Speaker 1>They had to stop placing them because they simply weighed

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<v Speaker 1>too much. They used wooden posts the rest of the way.

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<v Speaker 1>They had traveled a hundred and thirty two miles that's

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<v Speaker 1>two hundred and twelve kilometers from Philadelphia in the Mason

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<v Speaker 1>and Dixon Line. Preservation Partnership was formed between a group

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<v Speaker 1>of surveyors from Maryland and a group of surveyors from

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<v Speaker 1>Pennsylvania to conduct an inventory of the original hundred and

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<v Speaker 1>dirty two markers. They found all but ten. Floods the

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<v Speaker 1>Civil War, farmers cutting fields, and people using them for

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<v Speaker 1>target practice had left many of the stones damaged or destroyed.

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<v Speaker 1>But what about This surveying led to the Mason Dixon

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<v Speaker 1>Line becoming the unofficial dividing line between where the North

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<v Speaker 1>ends and the South begins. That's where politics comes in.

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<v Speaker 1>In eighteen twenty, Maryland was the northernmost slave state. Pennsylvania

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<v Speaker 1>was a free state. As part of the Missouri Compromise

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<v Speaker 1>that sought to even out the number of slave states

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<v Speaker 1>and free states, Maryland was relegated added to the South

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<v Speaker 1>because of its practice of slavery. The U. S Congress

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<v Speaker 1>then declared that territories south of the Mason Dixon line

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<v Speaker 1>were slave states, and because the South was holding tight

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<v Speaker 1>to the idea of slavery, Maryland was the South. Slaves

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<v Speaker 1>were free once they stepped into Pennsylvania, at least until

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<v Speaker 1>the Fugitive Slave Act of eighteen fifty. The Mason Dixon

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<v Speaker 1>Line was a boundary and a symbol that still holds weight,

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<v Speaker 1>but it's also an important historical note in the science

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<v Speaker 1>of surveying. Every fence erected between neighbor's yards and pink

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<v Speaker 1>ribbon tied to steel steak is a descendant of the

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<v Speaker 1>work of Mason and Dixon. Today's episode was written by

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<v Speaker 1>Ray Glear and produced by Tyler Plang. For more on

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<v Speaker 1>this and lots of other topics, visit how Stuff works

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<v Speaker 1>dot com. Brain Stuff is a production of i heeart Radio.

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