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.The South Carolina legislature publishedCalhoun s theory of nullification in 1828.Because Calhounheld a national office, he insisted the pamphlet be publishedanonymously.The Mason-Dixon LineWhere exactly is the line between the North and South? Through-out the first half of the nineteenth century, many politicians re-ferred to the Mason-Dixon Line as the boundary separating thetwo sections.This famous line was established in order to settle aboundary dispute that originated in the seventeenth century.Thedisagreement started after King Charles I issued a land grant in 1632to Maryland founder George Calvert, and King Charles II issued aconflicting grant in 1682 to Pennsylvania founder William Penn.The inconsistent boundaries led to confusion, resulting in theCalvert and Penn families taking the matter to court.In 1750, En-gland s chief justice ruled that the boundary between Pennsylva-nia and Maryland should be located 15 miles (24 kilometers) southof Philadelphia.The two sides continued to wrangle over the deci-sion, but in 1760, both families agreed to the proposed line.However, no colonial surveyors had enough experience totackle the sensitive assignment of finding and marking the border.Instead, two English experts came to North America to do the job.Charles Mason was an astronomer working at the Royal Society in Nullification and States Rights 51The vice president s ideas of nullification appealed to manyin South Carolina.Calhoun himself, however, did not desire thatSouth Carolina or any state nullify a federal law.Instead, thevice president hoped that his theory would convince PresidentJackson to pressure Congress to reduce tariffs.Jackson s idea ofloyalty, however, was that his fellow government leaders shouldnot criticize him, as Calhoun was doing.Jackson interpretedCalhoun s actions as disloyal, leading to a widening divide be-tween the two men.Throughout Jackson s first term in office(1829 1833), Calhoun continued to lose influence within theGreenwich, England.Jeremiah Dixon was a well-known surveyorfrom Durham County, England.The two arrived in Philadelphia inNovember 1763 to begin their work.The process took about fiveyears to complete.Mason and Dixon used stars to calculate the boundary, whichrepresented the line between Pennsylvania and Maryland, as wellas the boundary between Maryland and Delaware.At every mile,Mason and Dixon laid down stone markers that had been shippedfrom England, with more elaborate stones every 5 miles (8 km).Many of these stones still survive today and they indicate the legalboundary.Modern GPS surveys have shown that Mason and Dixonwere remarkably accurate in their placement of the stones, onlymissing the true line by as little as 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) or asmuch as 800 feet (243 meters).To define the boundaries of slavery in the western territo-ries, the 1820 Missouri Compromise used the Mason-Dixon Line,extending it westward to the Ohio River until it emptied into theMississippi River, then west along the famed 36° 30' line.Thoughchanged a little from the original line in the East, many called thisnew boundary between slave and free states the Mason-DixonLine.Delaware, although it was a slave state according to the line,remained in the Union during the Civil War.The Mason-Dixon Linesymbolized the cultural divide between the North and South. 52 CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WARadministration.Instead, Jackson increasingly turned to a strongnationalist named Martin Van Buren for advice.During the sec-ond year of Jackson s presidency, the debate over states rightsheated up in the U.S.Senate.THE WEBSTER HAYNE DEBATEOne of the most critical and celebrated Senate debates tookplace in January 1830.As the Senate considered policy concern-ing federal lands in the West, a Connecticut senator proposedsuspending all federal-land sales.One of President Jackson sallies, Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri, immediately arguedagainst the suggestion, claiming that such a move was simply away by which New England could keep workers in Northeast-ern factories and limit prosperity in the West.After Benton spoke, a young senator from South Carolinanamed Robert Y.Hayne continued the argument.Hayne advo-cated an alliance between the South and the West: The Southcould support the West against suspending land sales and theWest could support the South against the tariffs.Hayne arguedthat both the tariffs and the proposal to suspend the land saleswere designed to help only one section of the country: theNorth.The South Carolinian maintained that land sales shouldbe an issue for individual states, not the federal government.The next day, Massachusetts senator Daniel Webster an-swered Hayne in a lengthy speech, but he did not deal directlywith the question of western lands and tariffs.Instead, the Mas-sachusetts senator addressed the issues of states rights and thepower of the national government.Webster argued that theNorth was a true friend to the West.He also stated his supportfor federal principles over the economic gain of one region ofthe nation.Finally, Webster criticized the idea of states rightsover the authority of the federal government.John C.Calhoun,who as U.S.vice president served as the president of the Sen-ate, discussed the situation with Hayne
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