A month earlier, in March of 1683, King Charles II officially granted the lands of the three lower counties to the Duke of York. At this point, the Duke could have then officially transfered the land to Penn, but Penn's advisors sought to revise the grant the Duke had received, to give him more land (which would in turn be transfered to Penn). Lord Baltimore protested the revision, and the King held all action on this grant until both Penn and Lord Baltimore could come to England to argue their cases.
In February of 1685, King Charles II died, and the Duke of York became King James II. The question of the three lower counties was refered to the Board of Trade and Foreign Plantations, who returned their decision in November of 1685.
'The Lords of the Committee for Trade and Plantations having pursuant to His late Majesty's Order in Councill of the 31 of May 1683 examined the Matters in Difference between the Lord Baltemore and William Penn Esqre in behalf of his present Majesty concerning a Tract of Land in America commonly called Delaware, their Lordships find that the Land intended to be granted by the Lord Baltemore's Patent was only Land uncultivated and inhabited by savages, and that this Tract of Land now in dispute was inhabited and planted by Christians at and before the Date of the Lord Baltemore's Patent as it hath been ever since to this time and continued as a distinct colony from that of Maryland, so that their Lordships humbly offer their opinion that for avoyding further differences the Tract of Land lying between the River and Bay of Delaware and the Eastern Sea on the one side and Chesapeak Bay on the other, be divided into two equall parts by a line from the latitude of Cape hinlopen to the 40th degree of Northern latitude and that one half thereof lying towards the Bay of Delaware & the Eastern sea be adjudged to belong to his Majesty & that the other half remain to the Lord Baltemore as comprized within his Charter.' (AOM 5:396)
The Dutch settlement of Swanendael in 1631 is what influenced this decision. King James ordered the division to be made on November 7, 1685. '...His Majesty well approving of the said Report It was there upon ordered by His Majesty in Councill that the said Land be forthwith divided accordingly...'
The 'decision of 1685', as this event would be called, included reference to 40 degrees being the southern boundary of Pennsylvania. Had the orders been carried out, the lines drawn, and markers placed, the conflict might have been over. Despite officially losing claim to the three lower counties, Maryland would have its northern boundary set at 40 degrees north latitude.
The lines were never drawn, and in 1688, King James II was succeeded by William and Mary, who declared Maryland and Pennsylvania to be royal provinces in 1690 and 1691 respectively. Nothing significant would occur regarding the boudary dispute until 40 years later. Charles third Lord Baltimore died in 1715. Benedict Leonard Calvert, fourth Lord Baltimore would survive him by only a few months, and rule of Maryland was returned to Charles, fifth Lord Baltimore when he was only an infant.
Rule of Pennsylvania was returned to William Penn in 1694, but he made no progress in settling the borders due to financial trouble. He died in 1718, and his four sons, John, Thomas, Richard and Dennis inherited the colony.
It was not until 1731 that Charles, Fifth Lord Baltimore asked King George II to order the proprietors of Pennsylvania to meet and settle the boundaries. Lord Baltimore and the Penns were present in England for the conferences, which were overseen by the Comittiee for Trade and Plantations. They eventually came to an agreement in 1732, which was very similar to conditions established in 1685. However, for unknown reasons, they agreed that the northern boundary of Maryland should be located 15 miles to the south of Philadelphia. This is most likely because Philadelphia, along with other settlements in the disputed area, had been established for almost 50 years as being in Pennsylvania, although they were below the 40 degree line. The boundary of the lower counties was to be a line drawn due west from 'Cape Henlopen' across the peninsula, from the center of which another line should be drawn tangent to a circle twelve miles from New Castle. At the point where this line touched the circle, another line would continue due north until it reached the northern border.
Again, nothing immidiately came of this agreement. Both colonies sent comissioners to discuss surveying of the circle around New Castle, who met 6 times over the next few months and could not come up with any kind of result. Commissioners for both sides questioned where the center of the circle should be located, and the Marylanders argued that the circle was originally meant to be 12 miles in circumference (a much smaller circle, giving more land to Maryland). Ultimately, they all signed a ntice saying that they could not agree on instructions to give to the surveyors.
In 1735, a chancery suit began in English Courts that would not be resolved for another 15 years. The purpose of this suit was to make sure the agreement of 1732 was carried out. In addition to the comissioners being unable to come to agreement on the New Castle circle, Lord Baltimore would not agree to lay out the southern boundary because of a geographic inaccuracy. During the discussions that lead to the agreement of 1732, it was decided that it would be difficult to set the boundaries clearly without a map. Lord Baltimore's map was selected, but after the lines were drawn on the map, it was discovered that 'Cape Henlopen' was in the wrong place. The accepted location of Cape Henlopen was at the town of Lewes, at the opening of the Delaware Bay. Lord Baltimore's inaccurate map placed it 15 miles to the south, at a 'false cape' located at present day Fenwick Island. (see figure 6) The Penns tried to use this to their advantage, and claimed the southern boundary of Delaware should be located, as the map indicated, at the false cape. (see figure 8) The chancery suit would continue unresolved until 1750.
In 1738, fed up with more border incidents, the Governor and both houses of Maryland petitioned King George II again, asking for him to make some kind of ruling. The King ruled that temporary lines should be drawn immediately and without question. To the east of the Susquehanna River, the line was to be drawn at 15.25 miles south of Phildelphia, and to the west at 14.47 miles south of Philadelphia. These lines were promptly drawn, and were accepted until 1763.
In 1750, Lord Hardwicke presented a verdict in the 'Great Chancery Suit' and stated that the agreement of 1732 had to be carried out. He answered all of the looming questions that both sides had been confused about. The circle around New Castle was to be 12 miles in radius, and its center was to be the center of the town. (it was agreed on that the center would be the spire of the dome of the courthouse) The southern boundary of the three lower counties was to be located as it was on the map presented in 1732, at the false cape.
It seemed finally that all of the questions had been answered, and that the lines would be surveyed to put an end to the 70 year old argument. On November 14th, 1750 commissioners met at New Castle to begin surveying the circle. They agreed that the belfry of the courthouse would be the circle, but when it came to how the radii would be measured, the parties reached another disagreement. The radius had to be measured with chains. The Marylanders wanted to measure up hill and down valleys, while the Pennsylvanians wanted to use strictly horizontal measurements, which would be more accurate. They also argued over how many radii should be chained out, and in which directions, in order to make a visible, accurate boundary. These concerns were again brought before a court in England.
The surveyors selected to mark the south border of the three lower counties were John Watson and William Parsons for Maryland and John emory and Thomas Jones for Pennsylvania. They were more successful than the commissioners at the New Castle circle, but their task was not completed without some controversy. They began in April of 1750, and by June 12 had reached Slaughter creek, 66 miles west of their starting point on the Atlantic coast. The length of this line, which received the name 'The Transpenisular Line', would determine where the midpoint was, and the midpoint would determine where the western border of the three lower counties would begin. The surveyors continued across the creek and reached the Chesapeake Bay at 69 miles. Their work was approved by the commissioners, but problems arose over whether or not Slaughter creek qualified as a part of the bay. If so, the transpeninsular line would have been 66 miles, long, and the southern border of the three lower counties would be 33 miles long instead of 34.5, which would result in more land for Maryland.
Stone monuments were placed at 5 mile intervals along the line from the atlantic coast to the 25 mile point. These stones were engraved with the coat of arms of Lord Baltimore on the Maryland side, and with the coat of arms of the Penns on the Pennsylvania side. (see figure 7) The Penn arms were modified to indicate the distinction of the three lower counties. Some of these stones still stand today.
In July of 1760, another decision was reached regarding the unsolved disputes of the surveys of 1750. The Lord High Chancellor ruled that the chaining of the New Castle circle should be done horizontally, and that the transpeninsular line should extend the full distance to the open water of the Cheseapeake Bay. Its location at the false cape was also confirmed. The northern boundary of Maryland was set at 15 miles south of the most southern point of Philadelphia, as had been agreed on in 1685. Commissioners from both sides set the middle point of the transpeninsular line, and several locations on the New Castle circle. The line that would start at the middle point and run tangent to the New Castle circle would prove to be a much more difficult surveying feat. After two failed attempts to run the line tangent to the circle, the surveyors were informed that Maryland and Pennsylvania had hired two English Scientists to complete the surveys.
Charles Mason, and Jeremiah Dixon were employed to 'mark, run out, setlle, fix and determine all such parts of the Circle, Marks, lines and boundaries as are mentioned in the several articles of agreement or comissions and are not yet completed.' They arrived in Philadelphia on November 15, 1763. Mason and Dixon would spend the next 5 years accompishing this task. They ran the northern boundary line as far west as they could until indians would not allow them to proceed. This was actually 30 miles farther than the current western boundary of Maryland, but that boundary had not been laid out yet, and would be the source of its own disputes.
After 82 years of disagreement both in and out of courts, there would be no further argument over the northern boundary of Maryland, or of the boundary between Maryland and the three lower counties. The boundaries were marked with stone monuments, bearing the arms of the Penns and Calverts on their respective sides. The lines laid out by Mason and Dixon serve as the present day boundaries between Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania, along with the eastern half of the transpeninsular line.