Theos-Talk Archives (February 2004 Message tt00097)

Sorry about that. You are right. But I meant the "colloquial" line that 
separated the North from the South during the Civil war. The following is an 
excerpt from a discussion about the Mason Dixon line at:
http://freespace.virgin.net/john.cletheroe/usa_can/usa/mas_dix.htm

<<On the one hand, the original Mason-Dixon Line, as surveyed by Charles 
Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in 1763 to 1767, which is precisely defined and 
restricted to the Pennsylvania/Maryland border (which runs east-west) and that part of 
the Maryland/Delaware border which runs approximately north-south. On this 
page I will call this "the original Mason-Dixon Line as surveyed by Mason and 
Dixon". 
* On the other hand, the later various colloquial meanings given to the 
term "Mason-Dixon Line", such as the border between the free states and the slave 
states in the first half of the eighteenth century, or the border between the 
Union states and the Confederate states during the American Civil War. These 
meanings are inconsistent with each other and with the course of the original 
Mason-Dixon Line as surveyed by Mason and Dixon. Opinions vary considerably as 
to the precise route of the Line under this meaning. On this page I will call 
this "the colloquial Mason-Dixon Line". >>

In any event, Washington, DC is geographically in the Northern half of the 
US. (And the actual M-D Line does end on it's Eastern leg some distance South of 
DC. :-)

In a message dated 02/17/04 10:11:38 AM, kpauljohnson@yahoo.com writes:

>--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, leonmaurer@a... wrote:
>
>> Yes... Since it is North of the Mason-Dixon Line. In any event, 
>>who cares? 
>> 
>
>The Mason-Dixon line is the border between MD and PA and Washington 
>D.C. is well south of it.