4. It was called the "Missouri Compromise," simply because it was incorporated in the act of Congress which admitted that State into the Union. It remained in existence until the year 1854, thirty-four years. During all that period it was looked upon as a permanent settlement of the boundary line between free and slave Territory.

The repeal of this act was strongly opposed by those. who objected to the extension of slavery. It caused a great deal of political excitement, and was immediately followed by the troubles in Kansas, where the contest between those who wanted that State to come in free, and those who wanted it to be a slave State, ran so high as to cause not only great political commotion, but even bloodshed, and civil war between the contestants in that then new Territory. Kansas remained a Territory until January, 1861, when it was admitted as a State.

5. As stated in the commencement of this article, no act of Congress ever caused so much political discussion as this. It was passed to quiet a contest that shook the whole country; and when it was repealed it created another of still greater magnitude. The Kansas imbroglio followed hard after; and the late disastrous and bloody civil war came soon enough to lead many wise men into the opinion, that it had much to do in bringing on that terrible calamity.

CHAPTER LXXXVI.

Mason and Dixon's Line.

1. SHOULD any reader say that this is not pertinent to the subject treated of in this work, he would not be far out of the way; for strictly speaking it has nothing to do with it. But the phrase "Mason and Dixon's Line," has been used in connexion with the political sayings and doings of the country so often, that it would be very natural for any one to ask, "What is it?" and "What is meant by it?" To answer the question we reply as follows:-Mason and Dixon's Line is not a myth nor an imaginary line, with no particular location. It was a real line, and a boundary line, located between Maryland and Pennsylvania; between which two colonies there had been much contention and many hostile acts, amounting at times almost to a civil war. This arose from a dispute respecting the boundary lines between them. Maryland had been granted to Lord Baltimore, and Pennsylvania to William Penn.

2. This was long before the Revolutionary war. But the boundary line was not accurately defined. These disputes caused so much trouble between the contending parties, that commissioners were appointed in England to make an accurate survey, and to determine, from the language used in the charters,-or grants, as they were called

in that day, the exact boundary line between them. Messrs. Mason and Dixon were selected in England to run this line; which they did. These men were eminent mathematicians and astronomers, and had the confidence of all parties. They performed their work so much to the satisfaction of all parties that the line drawn remains to this day. Thus was ended a long continued quarrel of more than 70 years' standing.

3. But these facts did not give this line its great notoriety. It arose from the circumstance that Pennsylvania and all the States north of it became free States, while Maryland and all the States south of it remained slave. States. Mason and Dixon's line without any intention of making it such, became the boundary between the free and slave States.

The line run by these men went no further west than those States extended, and was a straight line running east and west. But as new States were created and added to the original 13, some utterly refused to admit slavery while others did admit it. Ohio, Illinois and Indiana on the north side of the Ohio river; refused to admit, while Kentucky eagerly embraced it. Hence the Ohio river became a sort of Mason and Dixon's lire; that is, it became the line so far as these States were concerned. The phrase by this time, came to mean the boundary line between slavery and freedom, instead of the line run by Mason and Dixon between Pennsylvania and Maryland. Thus, like many other terms in our language, they became far more comprehensive in their significance than they were in their original meaning. In the latter sense, Mason and Dixon's line ran wherever the boundary lines ran

between free and slave States, whether east and west, north and south, or any other points of the compass. But the late civil war sponged out this famous line. It has no existence now, excepting that part of it which originally and at present forms the boundary between Pennsyl vania and Maryland.

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CHAPTER LXXXVII.

POLITICAL DIVISIONS.

1. WHEN we wish to understand the geography of our country, we take a map and notice its boundaries, its mountains, lakes, rivers, towns, &c.

And if we wish to understand its government we must notice how it is divided for political purposes; first, into States, and then into a variety of districts. We shall find Congressional Districts, Judicial Districts, Collection Districts, Land Districts, and Light-house Districts. All these have their uses, and are parts of the machinery by which the government is operated. If it were not for the necessity there is of frequently changing the boundaries, numbers, and localities of these districts, it would be useful and interesting if the United States were mapped out, so as to show all these political divisions at a glance, in the same manner as the States and counties are now shown.

2. The first great division is into States. These have particular reference to the Constitution of the Senate and House of Representatives. Each State is entitled to two Senators, regardless of its size or population; and to as many Representatives as its population will admit. Each State is really a Senatorial District in its relations to the general Government; and as Congressmen are elected by