vania border was set at a point 15 miles south of the southernmost
point of Philadelphia. However, when surveyors were appointed to run
the lines a remarkable discovery was made. The Cape Henlopen referred
to in the agreement was found on the map to be, not opposite Cape May,
but 20 miles down the coast at the point known as Fenwick Island; and
the true Cape Henlopen was referred to on this map as "Cape
Cornelius. "

Baltimore immediately repudiated the whole agreement, claiming that
a line due west from Henlopen, or Lewes, was the true southern
boundary of Delaware. How the "false map" became inserted in the
1732 Agreement is still a matter of historical discussion, each side
claiming the other prepared it. The Penns filed a suit in an English
court for specific performance of the Agreement in accordance with the
disputed map. This historic suit dragged through the courts of England
for 15 years and finally ended in a complete victory for the Penns. The
court appointed commissioners to mark the boundaries accordingly.

But this was not all. The commissioners themselves were unable to
agree on any controversial points. The local surveyors employed to run
the lines were found completely unequal to the task. Finally, after
13 more years of frustrated efforts, two English surveyors were
brought over to finish the job. These were Charles Mason and Jeremiah
Dixon, well-known mathematicians and astronomers. Mason and Dixon
first went to Philadelphia and determined the southernmost point of
the city. Then they established their line 15 miles below that point, in
accordance with the 1732 Agreement. Next they proceeded to the
southern boundary of Delaware which they ran through Fenwick
Island in recognition of the "false map, " as Maryland has always called
it. From there they struck a straight line west to the middle of the
peninsula, which they verified, and then began the northern or tangent
line which is now the boundary between Maryland and Delaware. When
they reached the New Castle circle they then headed due west to draw
the present Maryland-Pennsylvania border.

While this boundary dispute with Pennsylvania ran for 88 years and
was not finally settled until just before the Revolutionary War. Mary-
land's series of border controversies with Virginia began with the
granting of Lord Baltimore's Charter in 1632 and were not concluded
until an act of Congress settled the last contest in 1879. In closing, let
me mention this final border contest. It not only was the longest and
last dispute to be settled, but it was of particular significance to me
personally.

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