a boundary line between the US states of Pennsylvania and Maryland . It came to be seen as a symbol of the division between the free states of the North and those of the South which had slaves. The line was measured and drawn in 1763–7 by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, two British surveyors, in order to settle a dispute between the two states. Their story was used for the novel Mason and Dixon (1997) by Thomas Pynchon .
See also Dixie .