Book Reviewed: Mason-Dixon: Crucible of the Nation by Edward G. Gray

The American Frontier King Charles I of England granted the Calvert Family a charter for the Colony of Maryland in 1632,, and in 1681, Charles II awarded the Penn Family a similar charter for Pennsylvania. However, a dispute over a sixty-nine-mile parcel of land between the 39th and 40th degrees of North Latitude led to the creation of Mason-Dixon line. If the Calverts had prevailed, part of Philadelphia would be in Maryland, if Penns had succeeded, Baltimore would be in Pennsylvania. The Mason-Dixon Line is the story of America’s colonial beginnings, nation building, and conflict over slavery. Pennsylvania became a slave-free state and Maryland was a slave state. African Americans faced a boundary between distinct legal regimes. With the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, the Mason-Dixon Line became a federal instrument to arrest the northward flow of freedom-seekers. After the Civil War, the Line’s significance faded. This is a clutching story of colonial grandees, Native American diplomats, Quaker abolitionists, fugitives from slavery, and capitalists all contending with the relentless violence and political discord of a borderland that was transformative in American history. The borderlands between PA and MD were under the control of Native Americans that had abundant natural wealth. The colonial assault on Native population led to loss of countless lives and the destruction of Native communities. The African Americans living south of Mason-Dixon line had too many challenges. It is clearly expressed in the words of Harriet Tubman, an abolitionist and social activist. “When I found I had crossed that line," Harriet Tubman recalled, "I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in Heaven, I had crossed the line. I was free." Of course, the glory that came over Tubman was qualified. With freedom came a clear sense of loss and fear: "My home, after all, was down in Maryland; because my father, my mother, my brothers, and sisters, and friends were there." The runaway slaves had a deep fear that the federal agents would be looking for them, so that they could return them to their owners in Maryland. The reality of the situation was clear to the African America population, but it took decades for White Americans to understand that. But White abolitionists and quakers struggled to help freed African Americans to bond with their enslaved family members still living in Maryland. The end of slavery in Delaware was not due to a revolution. Through the amendment process, the federal government altered the law so that Delaware did not have to alter its legal code. The end of slavery in Maryland was not revolutionary either. The Line's defining slave state only abolished slavery after four years of martial law and de facto federal military occupation. The author recalls that the Mason-Dixon line was not conceived of as territorial border, but that concept evolved gradually. This is a book of 456 pages, although exhaustive, the counties at the border line had significant difficulties in applying and enforcing the relevant laws, be it Pennsylvania, Maryland, or Delaware.