Editing Mason–Dixon line (section)

===Symbolism===
In popular usage to people from the United States, the Mason–Dixon line symbolizes a [[cultural boundary]] between the [[Northeastern United States|North]] and the [[Southern United States|South]] ([[Dixie]]). Originally "Mason and Dixon's Line" simply referred to the border between Pennsylvania (including "the Delaware Counties") and Maryland. However, it has been used metaphorically to describe the entire boundary between slave and free states during the 19th-century. After [[History of slavery in Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania abolished slavery]], it served as a demarcation line for the legality of [[slavery in the United States|slavery]]. Technically, that demarcation did not extend beyond Pennsylvania where Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware, all [[slave states]], lay south or east of the boundary. Also lying north and east of the boundary was [[History of slavery in New Jersey|New Jersey]], where slavery was formally abolished in 1846, but former slaves continued to be "apprenticed" to their masters until the passage of the [[Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution]] in 1865.

The Missouri Compromise line ([[Parallel 36°30′ north]]) had a much clearer geographic connection to slavery in the [[History of the United States (1849–1865)|United States leading up to the Civil War]].<ref name=ColoradoTerritory>{{cite web |url=http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/territory.pdf |title=An Act to provide a temporary Government for the Territory of Colorado |publisher=[[Thirty-sixth United States Congress]] |date=February 28, 1861 |access-date=2007-02-22}}</ref>