OXONIANS DRAW U.S. BORDER | Oct. 18 – Mason-Dixon Line Set

Oct. 18, 2017 – This day 250 years ago, in 1767, the interstate border was settled that a century later became the key boundary of the American Civil War – the Mason-Dixon line.

The line was named after two British surveyors, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon.

They were hired by two prominent families on either side of the border, both were originally headed by Oxford alumni: 

• Catholic Leonard Calvert, founder of slave-colony Maryland. Leonard's brother Cecil, the second Lord Baltimore, handled the British end of the formation of the colony. Leonard  and Cecil, as well as their father George–the first Lord Baltimore–were all alumni of Trinity College, Oxford. 
• Quaker William Penn, founder of free-colony Pennsylvania. William Penn was an alumnus of Christ Church, Oxford.

The Calvert and Penn families, to settle a dispute over the border between them, hired English surveyors Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon.

The essential element of their survey, which had been interrupted by skirmishes with Indians, was completed on this day.

It established the boundary not only between the colonies of Pennsylvania and Maryland but for territories in the west that after the Revolution became the state of West Virginia and those in the east that became Delaware. The line was marked using stones, with Pennsylvania’s coat of arms on one side and Maryland’s on the other.

Why did this become the dividing line in the War Between the States? Because it was the North-South dividing line, between the slave states in the south and the free states in the north.

It is no puzzle why the South favored slavery–the earliest immigrants to the southern colonies like Virginia were loyalists to the British Crown and the Church of England and they were given generous grants of land that required huge numbers of workers. The cash crops such as tobacco and cotton that became the mainstay of the southern farms required workers to do strenuous repetitive tasks, and slavery provided a solution.

It is also no puzzle why New England did not favor slavery. They did not get large grants of land from the Crown because the earliest immigrants to New England were dissenting rebels from the Church of England. Most therefore became small farmers, traders or manufacturers.

Maryland and Pennsylvania were in-between colonies and states. Unlike most other southern states (Georgia's Wilberforce was another exception), Maryland was not founded by someone with allegiance to the Church of England. Even though Pennsylvania was not founded by a dissenting Quaker, its founder Penn had enough good will from the Crown to get some land to form a proprietary colony:

• In Maryland, the Crown carved a large piece of land out of northern Virginia to give to the Catholic Calverts. The Catholicism of the day was not aggressively opposed to slavery.
• In Pennsylvania (as it was to be called), lands were granted to Quaker William Penn because he had won favor with the Crown, even though leaders of his religion included many abolitionists who fought actively against slavery. It was easier in Pennsylvania than it was in Maryland to be opposed to slavery because of coal and iron reserves provided higher-paying jobs that did not have to rely on slavery to generate a competitive product.

To settle their border dispute, the land-rich Calvert and Penn families hired Messrs. Mason and Dixon to establish the borderline. The families were responding to a 1760 demand from the British Crown that colonial settlers cease their skirmishes and adhere to a 1732 border cease-fire. 

Both families claimed the land between the 39th and 40th parallels. Mason and Dixon established the border at 39º43'. If they believed that the rights on the two sides were equally balanced, they would have settled in the middle, at 39º30'. This suggests that Pennsylvania was the victor from the survey, getting 72 percent (43/60) of the disputed land area.

During the year 1767, the colonies were engaged in a dispute with the Parliament over the Townshend Acts, which sought–through taxes on tea and other imports–to pay for the British costs of troops sent by Prime Minister William Pitt the Elder (like the Calverts, an alumnus of Trinity College, Oxford) of establishing the continuing military presence that had driven the French and the Indians allied with them from the colonies.

However, the border dispute seemingly settled in 1767 was not over. The Mason-Dixon line held as a dividing line, but after the American Revolution, the states south of the Mason-Dixon line began lobbying the new U.S. Congress for the legal rights of slaveowners. The northern states argued that ownership of human beings was not acceptable in the "New Constellation" of states.

Although the arguments were temporarily ended by the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which accepted the states south of the Mason-Dixon line as slave-holding and those north of the line as free, the attempted compromise–and its successors–failed and Pennsylvania became the site of many famous Civil War battles. The Gettysburg, Pennsylvania battle in 1863 was on the Mason-Dixon Line. It was  one of the bloodiest battles of the American Civil War, made immortal by President Lincoln's speech at the site . The Quaker commitment to abolitionism trumped their commitment to peace.

In April 1865, the south capitulated. The ensuing 13th Amendment (1865) was immediately passed abolishing slavery and nullifying the Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision (1857). The bitterly fought 14th Amendment gave citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States. It was ratified 101 years after the Mason-Dixon line was established. However, civil rights did not mean voting rights. It took many more debates and political battles, some more amendments, and another 100 years, for the United States to pass laws to ensure that all adult citizens be allowed to vote...

RELIGION: Nov. 6–The 1st U.S. Catholic Bishop (Baltimore)

Bishop Carroll by Pennsylvania-born Rembrandt 
Peale, painter acclaimed for portraits of George 
Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

This day in 1789, Pope Pius VI appointed John Carroll bishop of Baltimore as the first Catholic bishop in the United States. I am writing this in the Lord Baltimore Hotel in downtown Baltimore and have reason to note the date.

There is a strong Oxford connection with the American colonies. I have been researching this connection and am visiting the Maryland Historical Society today to consult the Calvert Papers.

Maryland was a proprietary colony (one of only two of the thirteen when the United States became independent) owned by the Calvert family. The first Lord Baltimore, George Calvert, created the colony and was an alumnus of Trinity College, Oxford. He had three sons:

• Cecil Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore, a Trinity College, Oxford alumnus who handled the British side of the colonial property.
• Leonard Calvert, the first Governor of Maryland (1633-1643), another Trinity Oxford alumnus.
• Philip Calvert, Principal Secretary of Maryland and later Governor of Maryland (1660-1661).

The colony and then State of Maryland was created as a haven for Roman Catholics. It was carved out of Virginia to the south and Pennsylvania to the north, resulting in border disputes on both sides. The northern side of Maryland gave rise to the Mason-Dixon line. Alas, Maryland was on the wrong side of this line. Several black people from Maryland went north to become well-known opponents of slavery – such as Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman.

Carroll was born in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, in 1735. His mother,  from a wealthy family, was educated in France. At age 13, Carroll sailed for France in order to complete his own education at St. Omer’s College in French Flanders. At age 18, he joined the Society of Jesus, and after a further 14 years of study in Liege, he received ordination as a priest at 34.

However, Pope Clement XIV’s decision in 1773 to dissolve the Jesuit order ended Carroll’s European career. Three years after Carroll’s return to Maryland, the need to make allies of French Catholics in Canada created an opportunity for him to join a Congressional delegation dispatched to negotiate with the Canadians.

Benjamin Franklin served on the same delegation, and although the mission failed, Franklin proved an excellent ally to Carroll. In 1784, Franklin recommended to the papal nuncio in Paris that Carroll assume the position of Superior of Missions in the United States of North America, which removed American Catholics from the authority of the British Catholic hierarchy.

As bishop and later in 1808 as the first U.S. archbishop, Carroll oversaw the creation of leading Catholic institutions in the new nation, including the first Catholic university (Georgetown University, 1789) and cathedral (Baltimore Basilica, 1806).

As a legacy from this era and the strong Maryland Catholic tradition, the Catholic Relief Services is located in Baltimore.

OXFORD: Alumni in the American Colonies (Chart)

Oxford Alumni Who Shaped the USA and Canada, 1585-1797
1. Oxonians made it both possible and inevitable for the American colonies to become independent.
2. All of the eight colonies between New York and Florida were founded or once owned in whole or part by an Oxonian. (Cambridge played a bigger role in New England.) 
  

Date	Oxford Alum	College	US Connection	State	Comment
1585	Sir Walter Raleigh	Oriel, Oxford – but didn’t take up residence	Explorer, founded Roanoke for the glory of the Queen	VA later was NC	In 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh founded the first English colony at Roanoke in North America. He named the colony as Virginia after Queen Elizabeth I. However, the expedition being funded by himself, the Roanoke colony couldn't generate a stable revenue and was abandoned. The Carolina Province was later split off from Virginia and  its capital - Raleigh, NC - was named after Sir Walter. Read more at http://bit.ly/15B1UqE.
1567	Rev. Lawrence Washing-ton,  Fellow of Brasenose College Oxford (his two sons emigrated to Va.) was GW's gggfather.	Brasenose, Oxford (same college as current PM Cameron)	A Laurence Wasshington [sic] was registered at Oxford University in 1567 (at birth?).  Another Laurence Washington, likely his son, registered at Oxford University in 1594, from Northamptonshire. The Lawrences of Ashton Hall, Lancs., were intermarried with the de Lancasters and the Washingtons. (http://www.lawrencefamhis.com/ashton-o/p230.htm.)  George Washington (1732-99), first U.S. President (1789-1797), was born at Bridges Creek, Virginia. His great-grandfather John Washington and his brother Lawrence settled there in 1658 from Dillicar in Co. Westmorland. The background of the flag of Westmorland, just west of Durham County and Yorkshire, is the red-and-white stripes of the de Lancaster family, one form of whose crest has a single star in the canton.  The multiple Washington stars are a family addition.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-tepper-marlin/washington-coat-of-arms_b_1906733.html http://nyctimetraveler.blogspot.com/2013/03/george-washington-ties-to-oxford.html Many believe the U.S. stars and stripes are derived at least indirectly from GW’s family coat of arms, which feature red (Gules) stars (Mullets) and stripes (Bars). (The District of Columbia flag is a direct copy of the Washington family red-and-white stars and stripes.) The Washington, Md., flag has blue stars.	USA, VA DC	GW’s earliest recorded ancestor was Patric FitzDolfin de Offerton, whose son William de Hertburn served the bishop of Durham, and who in 1185 was granted the manor of Washington in return for the service of attending the episcopal hunt with four greyhounds. The family lived on the estate for 400 years, but in 1613 it was sold back to the church. http://www.4crests.com/washington-coat-of-arms.html Ancestry of George Washington (the use of the de Lancaster stripes suggests the family is related) : #Patric FitzDolfin de Offerton, c. 1145-1182 #William FitzPatric de Hertburn, c. 1165-1194 #William de Washington, c. 1180-1239  #Walter de Washington, c. 1212-1264 #William de Washington, c. 1240-1288 #Robert de Washington, 1265-1324 #Robert de Washington, c. 1296-1348 #John de Washington, c. 1346-1408 #John de Washington, c. 1380-1423 #Robert Washington, 1404-1483 #Robert Washington, 1455-1528 #John Washington, 1478-1528 #Lawrence Washington, 1500-1583  #Robert Washington, c. 1544-1623  #Lawrence Washington, c. 1567-1616  #Rev. Lawrence Washington, 1602-1653 Brasenose College gggfather  #John Washington, c. 1631-1677 migrated to USA ggfather #Lawrence Washington, 1659-1698 gfather #Augustine Washington, 1694-1743 father #George Washington, 1732-1799, first President http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ancestry_of_George_Washington&action=edit&section=3
1732	James Oglethorpe	Corpus Christi, Oxford	Reformer, exposed terrible conditions in debtor prisons. Saw Georgia as haven for refugees from Britain’s prisons. In fact, the actual immigrants were skilled people.	GA	Landed 1732, settled near present Savannah, GA, in 1733. Negotiated with Indians for land, created forts. Georgia established as a buffer between Spanish Florida and South Carolina. Abolished slavery. Tolerant of all religions except Roman Catholicism. Named Governor of Georgia.
1776 (book)	Adam Smith	Balliol, Ox	Led opposition to tariffs on trade. The Wealth of Nations was published in 1776.	USA	Founder of free-trade classical economics, originator of the concept of the invisible hand operating in markets. Opposed mercantilist ideas in “The Wealth of Nations.”
1632	Calvert, 1st and 2nd Barons Baltimore and brother	Trinity, Ox	Founder. Roman Catholic, sought a place where Catholics could find refuge, bc they were not allowed to colonize Virginia, Georgia and other colonies. Pioneer in religious tolerance. 1st Baron Calvert got the land in Md. carved out of Virginia for Catholics. One son went to America and the other stayed behind to take the title and work in government. http://ox-cam-nyc.blogspot.com/2012/09/oxford-educated-calverts-settle-maryland.html	MD	George Calvert, 1st Lord Baltimore, secured rights to Maryland as a Catholic haven in the way of expansion of anti-Catholic Virginia. Cecilius Calvert continued this interest as 2nd Lord Baltimore and his brother became the first governor. They worked both sides of the Atlantic as Virginians tried to fight back against the loss of some of their land.
c. 1710	John 2nd Baron Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville	Christ Church, Oxford	Founder, Carolinas. Inherited from his ggfather Sir George Carteret one-eighth of Province of Carolina along the Virginia border. Unlike other owners, he refused to sell back to the Crown. Granville County named after him. Oxford, NC named for his alma mater (http://www1.oxfordnc.org/index.html). Was the real power in the government when Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington (Trinity, Oxford graduate) was Britain's 2nd PM, after Walpole, for two years.	NC, SC	Descendant was grandmother of Diana, Princess of Wales. Jonathan Swift said of him: “He carried away [from Oxford] more Greek, Latin and Philosophy than properly became a person of his rank.” Migration tended to be southward, with Virginians coming down to the Carolina for cheaper land. South Carolina split away (as Delaware did from Pennsylvania) in 1719-1729.
1758	William Pitt the Elder (1st Earl of Chatham)	Trinity, Ox	Kicked Out French + Allied Indians. http://ox-cam-nyc.blogspot.com/2013/03/bornemans-french-and-indian-war-shows.html	USA	Pitt had the imperial vision that supported British soldiers going to the colonies and chasing French forces to Canada (and eventually out of North America). http://ox-cam-nyc.blogspot.com/2012/09/oxford-in-usa-2-making-independence.html
1773	Frederick Lord North	Trinity, Oxford	Overtaxed the colonies to pay for Pitt’s wars. http://ox-cam-nyc.blogspot.com/2012/09/oxford-in-america-3-making-independence.html	USA	Pitt was greatly opposed to making the colonies pay.
1620	Oxford Pilgrims	Oxford	Colonist	MA	Various pilgrims landing at Plymouth etc. attended Oxford
1681	William Penn	Christ Church, Oxford	Founded Pennsylvania as an extension of New Jersey, which had been purchased as a Quaker haven. Like the Calverts, he was a pioneer of religious tolerance. Founded Philadelphia, whose charter became a basis of the U.S. Constitution. Became close to the founder of the Quakers, George Fox. Persecuted for his views, a jury’s refusal to convict him resulted in a breakthrough in the law of jury nullification.	PA, DE, NJ	Son of a supporter of the King of England, who was knighted and made an admiral, Penn – although he broke with his father on religious and peace issues - was given the land that is now known as Pennsylvania and Delaware as settlement of a debt owed by King Charles. A visionary, he created a colony committed to peace and envisioned a union of all the colonies, as well as a similar union in Europe. Charles II named Pennsylvania after William Penn’s father. Delaware split off bc the leaders of this area did not like being under a Quaker government.
Date	Cambridge	College	US Connection	State	Comment
1636	John Harvard	Emma-nuel, Cam- bridge	Colonist	MA	Donated his library to Harvard, thereby gave the College his name. Among the influential colonists were a number of Cambridge (hence Harvard's city name)  graduates. http://bit.ly/14bpApf