Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Graham of Claverhouse
, known as “Bonnie Dundee”, united the Jacobite clans against the
government army at the
Battle of Killiekrankie
, just north of Pitlochry. However, the
inspirational Claverhouse was killed on the point of victory, the clans dispersed and the
threat passed. In Scotland, William and Mary restored the full Presbyterian structure and
abolished bishops, though they chose not to restore the political and legal functions of
the Kirk, which remained subject to parliamentary control.
The Union
From 1689 to 1697, William was at war with France, a war partly financed by Scottish
taxes and partly fought by Scottish soldiers. Yet many Scots, mindful of the Auld
Alliance, disapproved of the war and others suffered financially from the disruption to
trade with France. here were other economic irritants too, principally the legally
sanctioned monopoly that English merchants had over trade with the English colonies.
his monopoly inspired the
Darien Scheme
, a plan to establish a Scottish colony in
Panama. he colonists set off in 1698, but the scheme proved a miserable failure. he
colony collapsed with the loss of £200,000 - an amount equal to half the value of the
entire coinage in Scotland - and an angry Scottish Parliament threatened to refuse the
king taxes as rioting broke out in the cities.
he situation in Scotland was further complicated by the question of the succession.
Mary died without leaving an heir and, on William's death in 1702, the crown passed
to her sister
Anne
, who was also childless. he English Parliament secured the
Protestant succession by passing the Act of Settlement, naming the Electress Sophia of
Hanover as the next in line to the throne. he Act did not, however, apply in Scotland,
and the English feared that the Scots would invite James Edward Stewart back from
France to be their king. Consequently, Parliament appointed commissioners charged
with the consideration of “proper methods towards attaining a union with Scotland”.
In response the Scottish Parliament passed the
Act of Security
in 1703, stating that
Scotland would not accept a Hanoverian monarch unless they had first received
guarantees protecting their religion and their trade.
Nevertheless the Scottish Parliament unexpectedly passed the
Act of Union
by 110
votes to 69 in January 1707. Some historians have explained the vote in terms of
bribery and corruption. his certainly played a part (the Duke of Hamilton, for
example, switched sides at a key moment and was rewarded with an English dukedom),
but there were other factors. Scottish politicians were divided between the Cavaliers
- Jacobites (supporters of the Stewarts) and Episcopalians - and the Country party,
whose Presbyterian members dreaded the return of the Stewarts more than they
disliked the Hanoverians. here were commercial considerations too. In 1705 the
English Parliament had passed the Alien Act, which threatened to impose severe
penalties on cross-border trade, whereas the Union gave merchants of both countries
free access to each other's markets. he Act of Union also guaranteed the Scottish legal
system and the Presbyterian Kirk, and offered compensation to those who had lost
money in the Darien Scheme.
Under the terms of the Act, both parliaments were to be replaced by a new British
Parliament based in London, with the Scots apportioned 45 MPs and 16 peers. here
were riots when the terms became known, but no sustained opposition.
1587
1592
1603
Mary, Queen of Scots, is
executed on the orders of
Queen Elizabeth I.
Presbyterianism becomes the
established religion.
James VI of Scotland becomes
James I of England.
