Whereas, George Bryan, John Ewing and David Rittenhouse were duly appointed commissioners on behalf of this commonwealth, and fully authorized to meet and agree with other commissioners on the part of Virginia, upon the western boundary, and whereas the said George Bryan, John Ewing and David Rittenhouse, in pursuance of the said trust and power, did, on the thirty-first day of August, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-nine, meet certain commissioners on the part of Virginia, to wit, James Madison and Robert Andrews, and an agreement was then entered into, concluded and signed, by and between the said commissioners, on the part of their respective states, by whom they were for the purpose aforesaid delegated, which agreement was, upon the twenty-third day of September, one thousand seven hundred and eighty, unanimously confirmed by this commonwealth, as follows: Resolved, That although the conditions annexed by the legislature of Virginia to the ratification of the boundary line, agreed to by the commissioners of Pennsylvania and Virginia, on the thirty-first of August, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-nine, may tend to countenance some unwarrantable claims which may be made under the state of Virginia, in consequence of pretended purchases or settlements, pending the controversy; yet this state, determining to give to the world the most unequivocal proof of their earnest desire to promote peace and harmony with a sister state, so necessary during this great contest against the common enemy, do agree to the conditions proposed by the state of Virginia, in their resolves of the twenty-third day of June last, to wit, That the agreement made on the thirty-first day of August, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-nine, between James Madison and Robert Andrews, commissioners of the commonwealth of Virginia, and George Bryan, John Ewing and David Rittenhouse, commissioners for the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, be ratified, and finally confirmed, to wit: That the line, commonly called Mason and Dixon's line, be extended due west, five degrees of longitude, to be computed from the river Delaware, for the southern boundary of Pennsylvania, and that a meridian, drawn from the western extremity thereof, to the northern limits of the said states, respectively, be the western boundary of Pennsylvania, for ever, on condition, that the private property and rights of all persons, acquired under, founded on, or recognized by, the laws of either country, previous to the date hereof, be saved and confirmed to them, although they should be found to fall within the other, and that in the decision of disputes thereon, preference shall be given to the elder or prior right, which ever of the said states the same shall have been acquired under, such persons paying, within whose boundary their lands shall be included, the same purchase or consideration money, which would have been due from them to the state, under which they claimed the right; and where any such purchase or consideration money hath, since the declaration of American independence, been received by either state for lands, which, according to the before recited agreement shall fall within the territory of the other, the same shall be reciprocally refunded and repaid; and that the inhabitants of the disputed territory, now ceded to the state of Pennsylvania, shall not, before the first day of December, in the present year, be subject to the payment of any tax, nor at any time to the payment of any arrears of taxes or impositions, heretofore laid by either state; and we do, hereby, accept and fully ratify the said recited condition, and the boundary line formed.