Fort McHenry had saved our new Republic. And Maryland men had
written a glorious chapter in the history of our nation. We are gathered
here this evening to commemorate that noble victory and to pay homage
to the men who fought so courageously to preserve their newly-won
freedom and independence. As we do so, it is befitting that we give
serious consideration to the condition of our country today. We all know
that she is threatened by forces mightier and more ruthless than were
faced by the heroes of Maryland in 1814. Let us resolve here that we will
stand up to this challenge with the same fortitude that was displayed by
those brave men who fought at North Point and Fort McHenry.

ADDRESS, INSTALLATION OF MASON-DIXON
LINE MARKER

TAYLOR'S ISLAND
October 24, 1959

Our beloved Maryland, with an area of 10, 577 square miles, is one of
the smaller states of the union. In fact, only eight of the 50 states, in-
cluding the newest one, Hawaii, are smaller in area. This statistic, to
be sure, is of concern to none of us in Maryland. We are wise enough to
value quality over quantity and know that a coin is estimated not by its
bulk, but by its intrinsic worth.

When we review the colonial history of Maryland and its boundary
disputes with neighbors to the north, east and south. The wonder is that
it remained as large as it is. For nearly two and a half centuries, these
neighbors of ours whittled away at our terrain with astonishing success,
leaving us only a part of the land which Charles I granted to George
Calvert and his heirs in the Charter of 1632.

In a long and bitter controversy with the Penns, Maryland lost all of
what is now the State of Delaware and an area in Pennsylvania 20 miles
in depth from the present boundary, including a great part of the
ground on which the city of Philadelphia now stands. It narrowly
escaped division into two parts, the fate of the modern Pakistan, for
when Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon finally extended their "west
line" into the Alleghenies to a point at the northernmost bend of the
Potomac River, they found that they were only two miles from that river
which Charles I had designated as the southern boundary of the prov-
ince. As a result of this survey, we know that today one travels through

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