938. BOUNDARIES, Pennsylvania and Virginia.—
The principle on which the boundary
between Pennsylvania and this State is to be run having been fixed, it is now proposed
by President Reed that commissioners proceed
to execute the work from the termination of
Mason and Dixon's line to the completion of
five degrees of longitude, and thence on a
meridian to the Ohio. We propose that the
extent of the five degrees of longitude shall
be determined by celestial observation. Of
course it will require one set of astronomers
to be at Philadelphia, and another at Fort Pitt.
We ask the favor of yourselves to undertake
this business, the one to go to the one place,
the other to the other, meaning to add a coadjutor
to each of you.—
To Rev. James Madison and Robert Andrews.
Ford ed., ii, 513.
(R.
1781)
