Mason

Mason, Bobbie Ann, 1940-, American regional author, b. Mayfield, Ky., grad. Univ. of Kentucky (B.A., 1962), State Univ. of New York, Binghamton (M.A., 1966), Univ. of Connecticut (Ph.D., 1972). Her dissertation, a study of nature imagery in Nabokov Ada, was published as Nabokov's Garden (1974) and was followed by The Girl Sleuth (1975), a feminist guide to Nancy Drew and her ilk. Mason taught (1972-79) at Pennsylvania's Mansfield College, leaving academia to become a full-time writer. She is best known for her acutely observed short stories of working-class life in the New South, which began to appear in the New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, and other magazines in the early 1980s. The pop-culture milieu of strip malls, tract houses, fast-food joints, and trash television characterizes her highly acclaimed first volume of stories, Shiloh and Other Stories (1982), and reappears with other facets of contemporary Southern life in later collections—Love Life (1989), Midnight Magic (1998), and Zigzagging down a Wild Trail (2001). Mason has also written novels, e.g., In Country (1982), Feather Crowns (1993), and An Atomic Romance (2005).

Mason, Daniel Gregory: see under Mason, Lowell.

Mason, George, 1725-92, American political leader, b. Fairfax co., Va. He was one of the most affluent of the colonial Virginia planters. In his triple capacity as trustee of Alexandria (1754-79), justice of the Fairfax county court, and vestryman of Truro parish, Mason exercised great influence in local politics. In 1752 he became a member of the Ohio Company (serving as treasurer until 1773), and in 1759 he was elected to the Virginia house of burgesses. An early opponent of British colonial policy, he drafted the nonimportation resolutions adopted (1769) by the burgesses against the British and also wrote (1774) the Fairfax Resolves, which restated the constitutional position of the colonies in relation to the crown. Mason served on the Virginia committee of safety, and as a member of the Virginia constitutional convention of 1776 he drafted the well-known declaration of rights, which was extensively copied by other American states, and which was drawn on by Thomas Jefferson in the first part of the Declaration of Independence. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia (1787) and took an active part in drafting the Constitution; however, he objected to provisions for the centralization of power, the compromise between the New England and the Southern states on the tariff and slave trade issues, and the failure to include a bill of rights. Mason refused to sign the Constitution, and with Patrick Henry he led the fight in Virginia against its ratification; the bill of rights he advocated was the basis for some of the first 10 amendments (the Bill of Rights) to the Constitution.

Mason, James, 1909-84, British stage and film actor. Mason, trained at Cambridge as an architect, became a leading man in British films in the 1940s and thereafter an international star. With a velvet smooth voice and introspective good looks, he played villains and romantic figures with equal skill. Among his best-known films are Odd Man Out (1946), Rommel, Desert Fox (1951), Julius Caesar (1953), A Star is Born (1954), Lolita (1962), Georgy Girl (1966), and The Seagull (1968).

Mason, James Murray, 1798-1871, U.S. Senator and Confederate diplomat, b. Georgetown, D.C.; grandson of George Mason. He began to practice law in Winchester, Va., in 1820. Mason served in the Virginia legislature (1826-27, 1828-31), in the House of Representatives (1837-39), and in the U.S. Senate (1847-61). A staunch supporter of Southern rights, he drafted the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and advocated secession. Jefferson Davis appointed him Confederate commissioner to England in Aug., 1861. Along with John Slidell, Mason was seized aboard the British ship Trent by Capt. Charles Wilkes, commanding the U.S. warship San Jacinto, and was held prisoner at Fort Warren, Boston, until Jan., 1862 (see Trent Affair). After his release he went on to England, but he was never officially recognized by the British government.

Mason, John, 1586-1635, founder of New Hampshire, b. England. After serving (1615-21) as governor of Newfoundland, he and Sir Ferdinando Gorges received (1622) a patent from the Council for New England for all the territory lying between the Merrimack and Kennebec rivers. In 1629 they divided the grant, Mason taking as his share an area 60 mi (95 km) deep between the Merrimack and Piscataqua rivers, which he named New Hampshire. This grant was confirmed to him when the Council for New England surrendered its charter in 1635. Attempts by his heirs to make good their claims to this land led to long litigation. The inhabitants were finally compelled to recognize the Mason rights, which were sold (1746) by one of Mason's descendants to a group of 12 Portsmouth men, who became known as the Masonian Proprietors. They issued settlement permits and land titles in the undeveloped parts of Mason's grant. The grant was redefined by the state in 1788.

Mason, John, c.1600-1672, American colonial military commander, b. England. He was an army officer before emigrating (c.1630) to Massachusetts and then (1635) to Windsor, Conn. When the Pequot threatened to wipe out the new colonies on the Connecticut River, he and John Underhill led an expedition (1637) against them with the aid of other Native Americans under Uncas and Miantonomo and virtually destroyed the tribe. After this campaign—generally called the Pequot War—Major Mason was a distinguished political leader in Connecticut until his death.

Mason, John Young, 1799-1859, American statesman, b. Greensville co., Va. He studied law under Tapping Reeve at Litchfield, Conn., and was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1819. Mason served in the state legislature (1823-31), in Congress (1831-37), and as a federal judge (1837-44). He was Secretary of the Navy (1844) under President Tyler, and in President Polk's cabinet he was Attorney General (1845-46) and again Secretary of the Navy (1846-49). From 1853 until his death he was minister to France, where with James Buchanan and Pierre Soulé he drew up (1854) the Ostend Manifesto.

Mason, Lowell, 1792-1872, American composer and music educator, b. Medfield, Mass. While working as a bank clerk in Savannah, Ga., he helped compile an anthology that was published as The Boston Handel and Haydn Society's Collection of Church Music (1822). He went to Boston to direct the music in three churches, added music to the curriculum of Boston public schools, and, with George J. Webb, founded (1832) the Boston Academy of Music, where he introduced the principles of Pestalozzi in the teaching of music. He arranged many hymns and composed 1,210 of his own, including "Nearer, My God, to Thee," "My Faith Looks Up to Thee," and "From Greenland's Icy Mountains."

Lowell Mason had four sons, all active musically. The two eldest, Daniel Gregory and Lowell, formed a publishing company in New York City. Lowell, the third son, Henry, and Emmons Hamlin founded Mason & Hamlin, a firm that first made organs and later made pianos. The youngest son, William Mason, 1829-1908, b. Boston, was a distinguished concert pianist and teacher. He studied in Europe with Liszt and others. With Theodore Thomas he organized a chamber-music ensemble that did much to interest Americans in chamber music. He wrote Memories of a Musical Life (1901).

The son of Henry Mason, Daniel Gregory Mason, 1873-1953, b. Brookline, Mass., was important as a composer, writer, and lecturer. He studied with John K. Paine at Harvard and with D'Indy in Paris. In 1905 he joined the faculty of Columbia, where he was professor of music from 1929 to 1940. His writings include Music in My Time (1938) and The Quartets of Beethoven (1947). Among his compositions are the festival overture Chanticleer (1928); three symphonies, of which the third, known as Lincoln Symphony (1936), is outstanding; and chamber music.

Mason, William, 1724-97, English poet, editor, and cleric. His works include two plays, Elfrida (1752) and Caractacus (1759), based on classical dramas. He was a friend of Thomas Gray, whose Life and Letters he published in 1775. Although he confused the texts of the letters, Mason is noted for developing the method of combining a life with letters.

Originally, the boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania. The 233-mi (375-km) line was surveyed by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in 1765–68 to define the disputed boundaries between the land grants of the Penns, proprietors of Pennsylvania, and the Baltimores, proprietors of Maryland. The term was first used in congressional debates leading to the Missouri Compromise (1820) to describe the dividing line between the slave states to its south and the free-soil states to its north. It is still used as the figurative dividing line between the North and South.

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(born Nov. 3, 1798, Fairfax county, Va., U.S.—died April 28, 1871, Alexandria, Va.) U.S. politician. A grandson of George Mason, he practiced law in his native Virginia from 1820. He served in the state legislature (1826, 1828–32), the U.S. House of Representatives (1837–39), and the U.S. Senate (1847–61). An advocate of secession, he resigned his Senate seat in 1861. Appointed Confederate commissioner to England, he was captured at sea with John Slidell aboard the Trent and imprisoned for two months (see Trent Affair). Released in 1862, he remained in England until 1865 but was unable to win support for the Confederate cause.

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(born May 15, 1909, Huddersfield, Yorkshire, Eng.—died July 27, 1984, Lausanne, Switz.) British film actor. After studying architecture at the University of Cambridge, he made his screen debut in Late Extra (1935) and soon became a star in British films such as The Man in Grey (1943), The Seventh Veil (1945), and Odd Man Out (1947). He moved to Hollywood in the late 1940s but continued to make films in Britain as well. Noted for his urbane characterizations of flawed individuals, he appeared in more than 100 movies, including Madame Bovary (1949), A Star Is Born (1954), North by Northwest (1959), Lolita (1962), Georgy Girl (1966), The Boys from Brazil (1978), and The Verdict (1982).

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(born 1725, Fairfax county, Va.—died Oct. 7, 1792, Fairfax county, Va., U.S.) American Revolutionary statesman. The owner of a large plantation, he became active in efforts to promote the westward expansion of the colonies. In 1774 he helped his neighbour George Washington draft the Fairfax Resolves (1774), which called for a boycott of English goods. In 1776 he drafted the Virginia state constitution and the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which influenced Thomas Jefferson and was used as a model by other states. A member of the Virginia House of Delegates (1776–88), he attended the Constitutional Convention but did not sign the Constitution of the United States, which he believed granted large and indefinite powers to the central government.

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(born Feb. 28, 1797, near Buckland, Mass., U.S.—died March 5, 1849, South Hadley) U.S. pioneer in higher education for women. She studied at various academies, supporting herself from age 17 by teaching. Her success as a teacher and administrator, and the demand for the young women she had trained, led to her plan for a permanent instructional institution for women. The school she founded in South Hadley, Mass., opened in 1837 as the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (the forerunner of Mount Holyoke College), and she served as its principal until her death.

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(born Feb. 28, 1797, near Buckland, Mass., U.S.—died March 5, 1849, South Hadley) U.S. pioneer in higher education for women. She studied at various academies, supporting herself from age 17 by teaching. Her success as a teacher and administrator, and the demand for the young women she had trained, led to her plan for a permanent instructional institution for women. The school she founded in South Hadley, Mass., opened in 1837 as the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (the forerunner of Mount Holyoke College), and she served as its principal until her death.

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(born Nov. 3, 1798, Fairfax county, Va., U.S.—died April 28, 1871, Alexandria, Va.) U.S. politician. A grandson of George Mason, he practiced law in his native Virginia from 1820. He served in the state legislature (1826, 1828–32), the U.S. House of Representatives (1837–39), and the U.S. Senate (1847–61). An advocate of secession, he resigned his Senate seat in 1861. Appointed Confederate commissioner to England, he was captured at sea with John Slidell aboard the Trent and imprisoned for two months (see Trent Affair). Released in 1862, he remained in England until 1865 but was unable to win support for the Confederate cause.

Learn more about Mason, James Murray with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born May 15, 1909, Huddersfield, Yorkshire, Eng.—died July 27, 1984, Lausanne, Switz.) British film actor. After studying architecture at the University of Cambridge, he made his screen debut in Late Extra (1935) and soon became a star in British films such as The Man in Grey (1943), The Seventh Veil (1945), and Odd Man Out (1947). He moved to Hollywood in the late 1940s but continued to make films in Britain as well. Noted for his urbane characterizations of flawed individuals, he appeared in more than 100 movies, including Madame Bovary (1949), A Star Is Born (1954), North by Northwest (1959), Lolita (1962), Georgy Girl (1966), The Boys from Brazil (1978), and The Verdict (1982).

Learn more about Mason, James with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born 1725, Fairfax county, Va.—died Oct. 7, 1792, Fairfax county, Va., U.S.) American Revolutionary statesman. The owner of a large plantation, he became active in efforts to promote the westward expansion of the colonies. In 1774 he helped his neighbour George Washington draft the Fairfax Resolves (1774), which called for a boycott of English goods. In 1776 he drafted the Virginia state constitution and the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which influenced Thomas Jefferson and was used as a model by other states. A member of the Virginia House of Delegates (1776–88), he attended the Constitutional Convention but did not sign the Constitution of the United States, which he believed granted large and indefinite powers to the central government.

Learn more about Mason, George with a free trial on Britannica.com.

The Mason–Dixon Line (or "Mason and Dixon's Line") is a demarcation line between four U.S. states, forming part of the borders of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia (then part of Virginia). It 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. Popular speech, especially since the Missouri compromise of 1820 (apparently the first official usage of the term "Mason's and Dixon's Line"), uses the Mason-Dixon Line symbolically as a cultural boundary between the Northern United States and the Southern United States (Dixie).

Background

Maryland and Pennsylvania both claimed the land between the 39th and 40th parallels according to the charters granted to each colony. The 'Three Lower Counties' (Delaware) along Delaware Bay moved into the Penn sphere of settlement, and later became the Delaware Colony, a satellite of Pennsylvania.

In 1732 the proprietary governor of Maryland, Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, signed an agreement with William Penn's sons which drew a line somewhere in between, and also renounced the Calvert claim to Delaware. But later Lord Baltimore claimed that the document he signed did not contain the terms he had agreed to, and refused to put the agreement into effect. Beginning in the mid-1730s, violence erupted between settlers claiming various loyalties to Maryland and Pennsylvania. The border conflict between Pennsylvania and Maryland would be known as Cresap's War.

The issue was unresolved until the Crown intervened in 1760, ordering Frederick Calvert, 6th Baron Baltimore to accept the 1732 agreement. As part of the settlement, the Penns and Calverts commissioned the English team of Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon to survey the newly established boundaries between the Province of Pennsylvania, the Province of Maryland, Delaware Colony and parts of Colony and Old Dominion of Virginia.

After Pennsylvania abolished slavery in 1781, the western part of this line and the Ohio River became a border between free and slave states, although Delaware remained a slave state.

Geography

Mason and Dixon's actual survey line began to the south of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and extended from a benchmark east to the Delaware River and west to what was then the boundary with western Virginia.

The surveyors also fixed the boundary between Delaware and Pennsylvania and the approximately north–south portion of the boundary between Delaware and Maryland. Most of the Delaware–Pennsylvania boundary is a circular arc, and the Delaware–Maryland boundary does not run truly north-south because it was intended to bisect the Delmarva Peninsula rather than follow a meridian.

The Maryland–Pennsylvania boundary is an east-west line with an approximate mean latitude of 39° 43' 20" N (Datum WGS 84). In reality, the east-west Mason-Dixon line is not a true line in the geometric sense, but is instead a series of many adjoining lines, following a path between latitude 39° 43' 15" N and 39° 43' 23" N; a surveyor or mapper might call it an approximate rhumb line. As such, the line approximates a segment of a small circle upon the surface of the (also approximately) spherical Earth. An observer standing on such a line and viewing its path toward an unobstructed horizon would perceive it to bend away from his line of sight, an effect of the inequality between the amount of curvature to his left and right. Among parallels of latitude, only the Equator is a great circle and would not exhibit this effect.

The surveyors also extended the boundary line to run between Pennsylvania and colonial western Virginia (which became West Virginia during the American Civil War, on June 20, 1863), though this was contrary to their original charter; this extension of the line was only confirmed later (see Yohogania County for details).

The Mason–Dixon Line was marked by stones every mile and ”crownstones” every five miles, using stone shipped from England. The Maryland side says (M) and the Delaware and Pennsylvania sides say (P). Crownstones include the two coats-of-arms. Today, while a number of the original stones are missing or buried, many are still visible, resting on public land and protected by iron cages.

Mason and Dixon confirmed earlier survey work which delineated Delaware's southern boundary from the Atlantic Ocean to the ”Middle Point” stone (along what is today known as the Transpeninsular Line). They proceeded nearly due north from this to the Pennsylvania border.

Later the line was marked in places by additional benchmarks and survey markers. The lines have been resurveyed several times over the centuries without substantive changes to Mason and Dixon's work. The stones may be a few to a few hundred feet east or west of the point Mason and Dixon thought they were; in any event, the line drawn from stone to stone forms the legal boundary.

According to Dave Doyle at the National Geodetic Survey, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the common corner of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware, at The Wedge is marked by Boundary Monument #87. The marker ”MDP Corner” dates from 1935 and is offset on purpose.

Doyle said the Maryland–Pennsylvania Mason–Dixon Line is exactly:

39° 43′ 19.92216″ N

and Boundary Monument #87 is on that parallel, at:

075° 47′ 18.93851″ W.

Visitors to the tripoint are strongly encouraged to first obtain permission from the nearest landowner.

History

The line was established to end a boundary dispute between the British colonies of Maryland and Pennsylvania/Delaware. Due to incorrect maps and confusing legal descriptions, the royal charters of the three colonies overlapped. Maryland was granted the territory north of the Potomac River/Watkins Point up to the fortieth parallel; Pennsylvania was granted land extending northward from a point "12 miles north of New Castle Towne," which is located south of the fortieth parallel. The most serious problem was that the Maryland claim would put Philadelphia, which became the major city in Pennsylvania, within Maryland. A protracted legal dispute between the Calvert family, which controlled Maryland, and the Penn family, which controlled Pennsylvania and the "Three Lower Counties" (Delaware), was ended by the 1750 ruling that the boundary should be fixed as follows:

• Between Pennsylvania and Maryland:
• The parallel (latitude line) fifteen miles (24 km) south of the southernmost point in Philadelphia, measured to be at about 39° 43' N and agreed upon as the Maryland–Pennsylvania line.

• Between Delaware and Maryland:
• The existing east-west Transpeninsular Line from the Atlantic Ocean to its mid-point to the Chesapeake Bay.
• A Twelve Mile (radius) Circle around the city of New Castle, Delaware.
• A "Tangent Line" connecting the mid-point of the Transpeninsular Line to the western side of the Twelve-Mile Circle.
• A "North Line" along the meridian (line of longitude) from the tangent point to the Maryland Pennsylvania border.
• Should any land within the Twelve-Mile Circle fall west of the North Line, it would remain part of Delaware. (This was indeed the case, and this border is the "Arc Line.")

The disputants engaged an expert British team, astronomer Charles Mason and surveyor Jeremiah Dixon, to survey what became known as the Mason–Dixon Line. It cost the Calverts of Maryland and the Penns of Pennsylvania the immense sum of £3,500 to have 244 miles surveyed with such accuracy. To them the money was well spent, for in a new country there was no other way of establishing ownership.

The Mason–Dixon line is made up of four segments corresponding to the terms of the settlement: Tangent Line, North Line, Arc Line, and 39° 43' N parallel. The most difficult task was fixing the Tangent Line, as they had to confirm the accuracy of the Transpeninsular Line mid-point and the Twelve-Mile Circle, determine the tangent point along the circle, then actually survey and monument the border. They then surveyed the North and Arc Lines. They did this work between 1763 and 1767. This actually left a small wedge of land in dispute between Delaware and Pennsylvania until 1921.

In April 1765 Mason and Dixon began their survey of the more famous Maryland-Pennsylvania line. They were commissioned to run it for a distance of five degrees of longitude west from the Delaware River, fixing the western boundary of Pennsylvania (see the entry for Yohogania County). However, in October 1767 at Dunkard Creek near Mount Morris, Pennsylvania, nearly 244 miles (392 km) west of the Delaware, a group of Native Americans forced them to quit their progress. In 1784, surveyors David Rittenhouse and Andrew Ellicott and their crew completed the survey of the Mason-Dixon line to the southwest corner of Pennsylvania, five degrees from the Delaware River. Other surveyors continued west to the Ohio River. The section of the line between the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania and the river is the county line between Marshall and Wetzel counties, West Virginia.

The boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland was resurveyed in 1849, then again in 1900.

The Missouri Compromise of 1820 created the political conditions which made the Mason-Dixon Line important to the history of slavery. It was during the Congressional debates leading up to the compromise that the term "Mason-Dixon line" was first used to designate the entire boundary between free states and slave states.

On November 14, 1963, during the bicentennial of the Mason–Dixon Line, U.S. President John F. Kennedy opened a newly completed section of Interstate 95 where it crossed the Maryland-Delaware border. It was his last public appearance before the one 8 days later in Dallas, Texas, where he was assassinated. The Delaware Turnpike and the Maryland portion of the new road were each later designated as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway.

As a cultural boundary

The states in dark red are almost always included in modern day definitions of the South, while those in medium red are usually included. The striped states are sometimes/occasionally considered Southern. Note that the Mason-Dixon line forms part of the northern boundary of the striped states

The Mason-Dixon line became symbolic of the division between the "free states" and "slave states" from the Missouri Compromise until the end of the American Civil War. Pennsylvania abolished slavery before the end of the American Revolution while Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri remained slave states until the end of the war.

After the Civil War, the line continued to be considered a cultural boundary. Some have imagined it continuing westward from Pennsylvania down the Ohio River to the Mississippi River, and crossing the Mississippi to place Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas south of the line. Debate whether border states such as Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland and West Virginia belong on the north or south side of this boundary line continues to this day.

Cultural references

Literature

• Thomas Pynchon wrote a historical novel about the construction of the Mason-Dixon Line titled Mason & Dixon, first published in 1997. This book makes no claim of being historically rigorous; however, as a work of what critic Linda Hutcheon calls "historiographic metafiction," Pynchon's novel interrogates the very notion of historical "rigor" by suggesting that historiography is - like literature - a contingent socio-cultural construct.
• George MacDonald Fraser referred to the Mason-Dixon Line in the 1994 novel Flashman and the Angel of the Lord. This contains the obvious error of referring to the Line's latitude as 39' 43" instead of 39° 43'.
• John Updike refers to the Mason-Dixon line in the novel Rabbit, Run, as the only landmark that Rabbit recognizes on a map, as he leaves Pennsylvania.Film
• The animated short film "Southern Fried Rabbit" (released May 2, 1953) features Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam and takes place on the Mason-Dixon Line — literally, on it. The cartoon depicts the north as being barren and empty, while the south is lush and green.
• In the film Pulp Fiction (first released on October 14, 1994), Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) and Marcellus Wallace (Ving Rhames) are captured and imprisoned in "The Mason-Dixon Pawnshop".
• Antonio Tarver plays a character in the 2006 movie Rocky Balboa named Mason "The Line" Dixon.
• In the children's film Little Big League, the announcer rambles off unimportant facts, mentioning that the Angels have been the best team this year away "north of the Mason-Dixon line".Television
• In several episodes of the American television series In the Heat of the Night, a roadhouse in Sparta, Mississippi is called Mason's Dixieline.
• In the Family Guy episode "To Live and Die in Dixie" Peter Griffin refers to the border as the Donna Dixon Line.
• In Viva La Bam during the Civil War Re-enactment episode, Bam pours white chalk on Don Vito and calls it the "Mason Dixon" line for their re-enactment.
• In one of Robin Williams' comedy segments, he refers to the border as 'the Manson-Nixon Line'.
• In several Warner Brothers Bugs Bunny cartoons, Bugs pops out of his hole at the Mason-Dixon Line to say "I knew I should have made a left at Albuquerque."Music
• The song "I Wish I Was in Dixie", written by an Ohioan in 1859, was extremely popular throughout the Civil War. It was said to be one of Lincoln's favorite songs, and, according to historian Cheryl Thurber, Lincoln asked a band to play "Dixie" for crowds gathered outside the White House on the very day the South surrendered
• The song "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody", most famously recorded by Al Jolson, contains the lines "Just hang my cradle, Mammy mine,/Right on that Mason Dixon line/And swing it from Virginia/To Tennessee with all the love that's in ya."
• The Johnny Cash tune "Hey Porter" has the singer asking the railroad porter how long it will be until the train crosses the Mason-Dixon Line, as he is longing to be back in the South.
• The popular song "Are You From Dixie?" written by Jack Yellen and George L. Cobb in 1915 and recorded by many country artists over the years, including the Blue Sky Boys in the 1930s and Jerry Reed more recently, references some states south of the Mason-Dixon-Line.
• Mark Knopfler and James Taylor sing about the construction of the Mason-Dixon Line in "Sailing to Philadelphia (Sailing to Philadelphia, Mercury Records, 2000)" Knopfler was inspired by Pynchon's book.
• Waylon Jennings & Mel Tillis also have a song out titled "Mason Dixon Lines" that references the line in every verse.
• The musical group Virginia Coalition have a song titled "Mason-Dixon" that makes reference to the historical line.
• The satirist Tom Lehrer mentions the Mason-Dixon line in the song "I Wanna Go Back to Dixie"
• The politically charged band Rage Against the Machine have a reference to "the new line of Mason-Dixon" in the song "Maria" off the album The Battle of Los Angeles.
• The song "Southern Girl" by Maze contains the lyrics: "...below the Mason-Dixon line / down there where the girls are fine / Sure know how to treat me you just make me feel so good / Southern girl here's to you no one can do it like you do."
• The Country band Lady Antebellum have a song called "Home Is Where The Heart Is" that references the line in the lyrics: "...Mama said home is where the heart is / Just south of the Mason Dixon Line..."
• Christian metalcore band Norma Jean, at one of their live performances, dedicated their song "Memphis Will Be Laid To Waste" to "everyone south of the Mason-Dixon line...and everyone north of it too."
• Country/Southern Rock Band Alabama, in their song Dixieland Delight, sing about classic southern date night: "Make a little lovin', A little turtle dovin' On a Mason-Dixon night."
• Death metal band Arghoslent in the booklets with their albums it states recorded South of the Mason-Dixon line.
• The song Guillotine by Raekwon (Wu-Tang) ends with a reference to the Mason-Dixon line.

References

External links

• The Mason and Dixon Line Preservation Partnership Collection of historical articles and pictures
• The Mason-Dixon Line also is the southern border of Pennsylvania with West Virginia. Visit locations and see photos from sites along The Line near its western end at the southwest corner of Pennsylvania.
• Mason-Dixon Line
• History of the Mason-Dixon Surveys
• The Charter of Maryland (1632)
• Charter for the Province of Pennsylvania (1681)
• Evolution of the Mason-Dixon Line
• The Evolution of the Mason and Dixon Line - facsimile copy of this 1902 text available on-line at Penn State's Digital Bookshelf
• HyperArts' Mason & Dixon Web Guide & Concordance
• The Boundary Disputes of Colonial Maryland

Books

• Danson, Edwin. Drawing the Line: How Mason and Dixon Surveyed the Most Famous Border in America. Wiley. ISBN 0-471-38502-6.