Why did the Scots Parliament agree to the Union of England and Scotland?

In 1707 Scotland was an underdeveloped nation.[1] Contemporary Scots were convinced that Scotland’s economic malaise could be traced back to the union of crowns in 1603. After this, Scotland’s independence had been mostly illusionary.[2] Once the Stuart dynasty came into the crown, they moved the political centre of gravity down to London. The Scots had to deal with absentee kings and queens who put the wealthier England’s interest above those of Scotland.[3] The union between these two kingdoms has long been considered to be an unlikely scenario, as the Anglo-Scottish relations have not always been on the best of terms.[4] The union was not a purely economic consideration[5], nor was it entirely a ‘political job’.[6] These are both factors of consideration whilst investigating the creation of the Anglo-Scottish union, however, there are of course, also other factors to consider. Such as the social sphere, religion, opposition or lack thereof, but due to a lack of space, these will not be investigated further within this essay.

There are authors who state that the roots of the Union of 1707 can be traced back to the Glorious Revolution of 1688-1689.[7] The economic decline of Scotland certainly started around this time. The economy in seventeenth century Scotland seems to have peaked in the 1670s.[8] Later, in the 1690s, there would be four aspects which would topple Scotland into an economic abyss. The first was the series of harvest failures, also known as king Williams’ ‘Ill Years’. During this time, the weather was extremely cold, and Scotland’s population was reduced by approximately 13%.[9] The second was the disastrous effect caused by the Nine Years War with France. France had long been a big export market for the Scots, and the war made it impossible for them to maintain a lively trade with France.[10] Thirdly, mercantilism was on the rise. Countries overseas erected protective tariffs which blocked the export of certain Scottish goods (woollen cloth, fish, grain and coal[11]). Finally, in 1700, the last disaster hit the Scottish economy. The Darien Scheme, the extraordinarily ambitious scheme of the Scots to try and establish a Scottish colony failed miserably, causing the Scots to lose probably a quarter of their nation’s liquid capital.[12]

            Throughout the seventeenth century, the Scottish economy had become increasingly reliant on trade with the English. The Scots fabricated mostly coarse products, linen, coal, and salt, amongst others, which they exported to the English markets. This trade was very important to the vulnerable Scottish economy at a time when the two kingdoms were essentially facing a constitutional crisis.[13]

The negotiations of 1705-1706 were not the first time the two kingdoms had considered a union.

In 1702, union negotiations had begun, encouraged by King William. These negotiations however, quickly came to a halt because of lack of English interest.[14] The Scots barely knew the English, and the English knew the Scots scarcely at all. The Scots, although unwilling to admit it, secretly admired the English. They, on the other hand, took this admiration for granted and dismissed Scotland as a backwater which was unworthy of enjoying a closer union with ancient Parliament.[15] In 1707, the English attitude had changed completely. The War of the Spanish Succession, the threat of a possible Jacobite Restauration in Scotland, or the possibility of an alliance between France and Scotland, made the English very keen on an incorporating union.[16] There were some Scots who felt that a closer union with England would be disadvantaged to Scotland and her interests. They used the poor economy of the last century to illustrate their point and used the old constitutional language to further demonstrate their case for independence or the restauration of their ancient dynasty.[17] Most Scots, however, did not mind a closer union with England, as long as it was a union based on a footing of equality and freedom.[18] There was also a large group of Scots who could recognise the economic benefits in a union with England. This can be seen in the voting for article 4 of the treaty of union. This article gained the biggest majority of any of the articles of the treaty in the Scottish Parliament. They could accept the economic necessity of the union, what they could not accept is the incorporating aspect of it.[19] There were, however, three acts that would in the end ensure the incorporating union between England and Scotland.

The question of succession had opened up a rift between England and Scotland. In 1700 Princess Anne had lost her last surviving heir, and there were those in Scotland who were vastly in favour of a Jacobite restauration. This insecurity in the northern kingdom caused the English Parliament to pass the Act of Succession in 1701. In this act, the Electress of Hanover was appointed as the heir to the English and Scottish crown. The English MPs hoped that this would settle the matter of succession, but the Scots had different ideas.[20] In 1704 the Act of Security passed through the Scottish Parliament and was eventually, against her will, also passed by the Queen. This act stated that the next sovereign of Scotland had to be a protestant, but not necessarily the same as the English sovereign. This act basically stated that the union of crowns would cease to exist on the event of Queen Anne’s death.[21] The English reaction to this was an unsubtle piece of economic blackmail, also known as the Alien Act. This act stated that if the Scots did not agree to negotiate before Christmas 1705, that any Scots in England would be treated as a foreigner, and thus subject to discriminative taxes, tariffs and blockade in trade. This act would, essentially, cut of the most vital part of the Scottish economy.[22] There were also English troops stationed at a discreet distance south of the border, but there is no definitive evidence as to how this affected the Scottish Parliament.[23]

As stated before, there were many more aspects to the union. There are accounts of bribery, real belief in the union, religion, social response to the union and so on. Unfortunately, due to a lack of words it is impossible to properly investigate every aspect. Whole books have been dedicated to this subjects, which are quite enjoyable to read.

            The economic and political considerations seem to have been the most important factors for the Scottish MPs during the parliamentary sessions of 1706 and 1707. These considerations are quite important, and the handling of these would determine the future of Scotland. Especially the economic considerations must have been very heavy on the minds of the Scottish MPs. There were those amongst the Scottish Parliament who believed, perhaps wrongly, that Scotland’s economy would have survived the blow from the English Alien Act. There are, however, a lot of arguments against this. More than half of the Scottish trade relied upon the English market. The chances of the Scottish economy surviving a blow such as this, are very slim to non-existent.  The political situation determined what kind of union would eventually come into existence on 1 May 1707. The English desires and the Scottish wishes coincided and eventually created an incorporating union, which still stands to this day.

Bibliography

Barrow, G.W.S., ‘The Anglo-Scottish Union of 1707’, History Today, 19 (1969), 534-542.

Encyclopedia Britannica, ‘Act of Settlement’, Encyclopedia Britannica (2013). <https://www.britannica.com/event/Act-of-Settlement-Great-Britain-1701> [accessed 30 November 2015].

Ferguson, W., ‘The Making of the Treaty of Union of 1707’, The Scottish Historical Review, 43 (1964), 89-110 (pp. 90-91).

Harris, Bob, ‘The Anglo-Scottish Treaty of Union, 1707, in 2007: Defending the Revolution, Defeating the Jacobites’, The Journal of British Studies, 49 (2012), 28-46.

McPhail, Bridget, ‘Scotland’s Sovereignty asserted: The debate over the Anglo-Scottish Union of 1707’, Parergon, 11 (1993) 27-44.

Whatley, Christopher A. and Derek J. Patrick, The Scots and the Union (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006), pp. 70-103.

Whatley, Christopher A., ‘Economic Causes and Consequences of the Union of 1707: A Survey’, The Scottish Historical Review¸ 68 (1989), 150-181.

Young, John R., ‘The Parliamentary Incorporating Union of 1707: Political Management, Anti-Unionism and Foreign Policy’, in Eighteenth Century Scotland.  New Perspectives, ed. by T. M. Devine and John R. Young (East Linton: Tuckwell Press, 1999), pp. 24-52.