About this time the long-standing dispute about the
northern boundary was finally settled, and two eminent
English mathematicians, Charles Mason and Jeremiah
Dixon, were engaged by the Proprietaries of Maryland and
Pennsylvania to run the line between the provinces and
mark it by suitable monuments. They began their labors in
1763 and continued them for four years. The line thus run
is the famous Mason and Dixon's line, dividing the Northern
from the Southern States.

Frederick, the sixth and last Baron of Baltimore, died in
1771, leaving the province to his illegitimate son, Henry
Harford, a minor.

The opposition to the tea tax, first laid in 1776, was fierce
and revolutionary, and associations were formed throughout
the province to prevent the introduction of tea. A firm of
Annapolis merchants, having in defiance of the public senti-
ment, imported a consignment of that commodity, popular
indignation rose so high that a town meeting was held, and
the owner of the brig that had brought it, to avert further
mischief, publicly burned his vessel, the Peggy Stewart, with
its obnoxious cargo, in the sight of a large concourse of
spectators, on October 19, 1774-

The associations were felt to embody the spirit of resistance
to the tyrannous pretensions of England, but something more
organic was seen to be necessary if the struggle was to be
carried on with any hope of success, and delegates were
chosen to a Convention which met in Annapolis. This Con-
vention became the organ of the sovereign power of the
people of Maryland. It appointed the deputies to the Conti-
nental Congress and instructed them from time to time As
it was too large to remain in permanent session a portion of
its members were appointed a Council of Safety, which sat in
Annapolis, and was the executive hand of the Convention,
assisted by committees of correspondence in the counties.

The Council of Safety soon began military preparations,
organizing the militia and providing them with military
equipments. After the battle of Lexington, the Convention
prepared a declaration and pledge, declaring the purpose of
the people to resist force by force, and warlike preparations
went on rapidly. The militia was drilled and kept in readi-
ness; minute-men were enlisted, and Maryland's contingent,
known as the Maryland Line, placed at the disposition of
Congress.

Governor Eden, finding that his presence in the colony
was worse than useless, left the province on June 24, 1776
and the last phantom of proprietary government vanished.