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Hi Florida Sailor

I'm your sub-editor for The Mason-Dixon Line. The new version is here A87791926 - please subscribe!

This is not a subject I'm familiar with (your Entry has taught me a lot) so do say if you notice anything you want me to put back the way it was.

I've proofread the Entry and added a few more links, and I have some questions.

In the Maryland, My Maryland section, I'm not clear about the second paragraph - I'll explain what my thinking is...

I presume Chesapeake Bay is towards the west of the territory, and the Bay of Delaware to the east, where the Native Americans were.

In 1631, the Dutch colonists formed a settlement near Delaware Bay, but the 'Indians' attacked it.

Then in 1632, Lord Baltimore was granted the land from the Bay of Delaware to Chesapeake Bay (Maryland) and established a colony on Chesapeake Bay.

Then the group from Sweden formed a colony near Delaware Bay (inside Maryland?) from 1638 to 1655, when the Dutch took over the whole of Delaware Bay.

In Britain at that time, Charles I was King, then it was the Interregnum, and then Charles II became King, and there was a major war in Europe leading to the Dutch ceding their land in North America to England.

Is my thinking correct?

To help me clarify my understanding of the What Did Della Ware section, which are the three lower counties, and the counties to the north?

Thank you

Hi SashaQ, thank you for choosing to Edit my Entry

A map link might help (we might want to add it as a Reference link) http://goo.gl/maps/wsnJp

> In the Maryland, My Maryland section, I'm not clear about the second paragraph - I'll explain what my thinking is...

>I presume Chesapeake Bay is towards the west of the territory, and the Bay of Delaware to the east, where the Native Americans were.

The bay is actually near the centre, it extends almost, but not quite, through the territory.

>In 1631, the Dutch colonists formed a settlement near Delaware Bay, but the 'Indians' attacked it.

Yes, you are correct.

>Then in 1632, Lord Baltimore was granted the land from the Bay of Delaware to Chesapeake Bay (Maryland) and established a colony on Chesapeake Bay.

The western border extended to the Virginia Colony that was established by the Potomac River. This is quite a distance west of the Chesapeake. The US Capital, Washington DC was taken from Maryland.

>Then the group from Sweden formed a colony near Delaware Bay (inside Maryland?) from 1638 to 1655, when the Dutch took over the whole of Delaware Bay.

Yes, the Swedish did not recognize the English claim, and no British people had settled this part of the colony.

>In Britain at that time, Charles I was King, then it was the Interregnum, and then Charles II became King, and there was a major war in Europe leading to the Dutch ceding their land in North America to England.

>Is my thinking correct?

Yes, one of the points I did not get into was that Penn's father had given a good deal of financial support to Charles II during his exile. The land grants were part of the political favour gained.


>To help me clarify my understanding of the What Did Della Ware section, which are the three lower counties, and the counties to the north?

This is probably the most confusing part of the story. Simply put the 'Three Lower Counties' are what we now call Delaware, the rest are Pennsylvania.

They were not part of Penn's original grant, and had technically been usurped from Maryland. When they were recovered, it seems that the Calverts had lost much of their influence with the King, probably from living so long in the new world.

I have been trying to keep the European intrigue to a minimum, just to keep it from overwhelming the Entry itself.

F S

Hi Florida Sailor

Thanks for the map and for clarifying those points - I understand things much better now and I've made a few tweaks. I agree with you about keeping the European intrigue to a minimum - I've just tidied the timeline a bit.

Let me know what you think of it now - I hope it's OK for you.

Just a point or two of minor conflict that is kind of what we do at this stage

>The three lower counties each had their own legislature, but they shared a common governor.

No, you should drop the 'each', they also had a collective legislature to govern all three, similar to the colonial legislature of the northern counties. This is not unlike modern County and State governments today. The two areas set themselves up as different entities, almost from the start.



I am not real happy with your addition to the title - The Mason-Dixon Line: Surveying a Division

I retained the original title of the Flea Market find - A541054

One of the points I was really trying to stress was that the division came a long time after the survey.

If you must change the title, could I suggest - The Mason-Dixon Line- Dividing a Nation ?

This at least allows a few interpretations, including both the Iroquois Nation and the country (US) that followed. I know it is a fine point and I will be happy to discuss this further, A title is a very important thing as it sets both the expectation of the reader and the number of hits on the Web at large.

Thanks

F S

Hi Florida Sailor

Thanks for your reply.

>The three lower counties had their own legislature, but they shared a common governor.

I was confused by this sentence, sorry - is the common governor also for the three lower counties, or for both upper and lower counties?

No problem to discuss the title - I understand that it is important.

I feel it needs something adding to "Mason-Dixon Line" to help the reader who is not at all familiar with this subject to know a bit more what to expect. I thought about some mention of geographical location, but I like your suggestion of "Dividing a Nation" - does add a geographical indication to the title in a concise way.

Let me know if you're happy with that or if you have another suggestion, and I will make the change

Hi Sasha;

It is always hard to convey just the right amount of information when you have been studying the facts in depth.

There was a single Governor for both the North and South Counties,

The Northern Counties had their own over-all group legislature

The Southern Counties also had their own over-all group legislature.

The single Governor ruled over both of them - separately.



Let us go with 'Dividing a Nation', if I have another thought I will post it here, but think this is a good compromise

If you want something more specific we could go for '...Dividing the United States', your call!

F S

Hi Florida Sailor

Thanks for the clarification I understand the counties better now - a tricky paragraph indeed, but hopefully I've tweaked it to make it clear and accurate this time.

I prefer your "Dividing a Nation", as it allows more interpretations as you say, so I've added that in

Let me know if you're happy with the Entry now, or if there is anything else you would like me to alter, and when you're ready I'll press the button to send it on its way

The only objection I see is your redirection of the opening link to 'Sailing to Philadelphia' I thought the You Tube Link was spot on, in your link we are the second tune on the list, and (at least on my browser) we do not get the music. I would really like to see the original link restored

Thanks
F S

Hi Florida Sailor

Just a note to confirm that I have now passed your Entry back to the Editors. More guidance about whether/how youtube links can be added to Entries will be produced some time, but if the link does not appear in your Edited Entry, then you can add it to a Conversation for the Entry.

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