Treaty of Union
Encyclopedia
The Treaty of Union is the name given to the agreement that led to the creation of the united kingdom of Great Britain
, the political union
of the Kingdom of England
(including Wales
) and the Kingdom of Scotland
, which took effect on 1 May 1707. The details of the Treaty were agreed on 22 July 1706, and separate Acts of Union
were then passed by the parliaments of England
and Scotland
to ratify the Treaty.
in 1603, when King James VI of Scotland inherited the English throne from his double first cousin twice removed, Queen Elizabeth I. Fear of Scottish cooperation with France or in a French invasion was a constant concern in England. Three previous attempts to unite the two countries by Acts of Parliament, in 1606, 1667, and 1689 were unsuccessful, although the political and economic circumstances at the start of the 18th century were such that the political establishments, many of whom had lost large sums of money in the ill-fated Darién scheme
which had failed in part due to English interference, supported the idea, despite its being deeply unpopular among the Scottish population at large.
(reigned 1702–14). Under the aegis of the Queen and her advisors the Treaty of Union was drawn up, and negotiations between England and Scotland began in earnest in 1706.
Scottish proponents of union believed that failure to accede to the Bill would result in the imposition of union under less favourable terms, and English troops were stationed just south of the border and in Northern Ireland as an "encouragement". Months of fierce debate in both capital cities and throughout both kingdoms followed. In Scotland, the debate on occasion dissolved into civil disorder, most notably by the notorious 'Edinburgh Mob'. The prospect of a union of the kingdoms was deeply unpopular among the Scottish population at large, and talk of an uprising was widespread. However the Treaty was signed and the documents were rushed south with a large military escort.
The united Kingdom of Great Britain
was born on May 1, 1707, shortly after the parliaments of Scotland
and England
had ratified the Treaty of Union by each approving Acts of Union
combining the two parliaments and the two royal titles. Scotland's crown, scepter, and sword of state remained at Edinburgh Castle. It formed the single Kingdom of Great Britain
. Queen Anne (already Queen of both England and Scotland) formally became the first occupant of the unified British throne, with Scotland sending forty-five Members to the new House of Commons of Great Britain
, as well as representative peers to the House of Lords
.
Spurious records of financial payoffs to Scottish parliamentarians were later referred to by Robert Burns
when he wrote "We're bought and sold for English gold, Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation
! Some recent historians, however, have emphasized the legitimacy of the vote.
Article 1 states "That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN
."
Article 2 provided for the succession of the House of Hanover
, and for Protestant succession
as set out in the English Act of Settlement
.
Article 3 provide for the creation of the one, unified, parliament of Great Britain
.
Articles 4 gave subjects of Great Britain freedom of trade and navigation within the kingdom and "the Dominions and Plantations thereunto belonging".
Articles 5 to 18 dealt with aspects of trade, movement, taxes, regulation etc., to ensure equal treatment for all subjects
of the new kingdom.
Article 16 required the introduction of a common currency
for Great Britain, subsequently effected through the 1707-1710 Scottish recoinage.
Article 19 provided for the continuation of Scotland's separate legal system
.
Article 20 provided for the protection of heritable offices, superiorities, heritable jurisdictions, offices for life, and jurisdictions for life after the union.
Article 21 provided for the protection of the rights of royal burgh
s.
Article 22 provided for Scotland representation in the Parliament of Great Britain to be 16 Lords
and 45 MPs.
Article 23 provided for Scotland's peers to have the same rights as English peers in any trials of peers.
Article 24 provided for the creation of a new Great Seal
for Great Britain, different from those of England and Scotland, and that the English Great Seal could be used until this had been created.
Article 25 provides that all laws of either kingdom that may be inconsistent with the Articles in the Treaty are to be declared void.
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
, the political union
Political union
A political union is a type of state which is composed of or created out of smaller states. Unlike a personal union, the individual states share a common government and the union is recognized internationally as a single political entity...
of the Kingdom of England
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...
(including Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
) and the Kingdom of Scotland
Kingdom of Scotland
The Kingdom of Scotland was a Sovereign state in North-West Europe that existed from 843 until 1707. It occupied the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shared a land border to the south with the Kingdom of England...
, which took effect on 1 May 1707. The details of the Treaty were agreed on 22 July 1706, and separate Acts of Union
Acts of Union 1707
The Acts of Union were two Parliamentary Acts - the Union with Scotland Act passed in 1706 by the Parliament of England, and the Union with England Act passed in 1707 by the Parliament of Scotland - which put into effect the terms of the Treaty of Union that had been agreed on 22 July 1706,...
were then passed by the parliaments of England
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...
and Scotland
Parliament of Scotland
The Parliament of Scotland, officially the Estates of Parliament, was the legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland. The unicameral parliament of Scotland is first found on record during the early 13th century, with the first meeting for which a primary source survives at...
to ratify the Treaty.
Background
The idea of uniting the two sovereign states had been widely discussed since the Union of the CrownsUnion of the Crowns
The Union of the Crowns was the accession of James VI, King of Scots, to the throne of England, and the consequential unification of Scotland and England under one monarch. The Union of Crowns followed the death of James' unmarried and childless first cousin twice removed, Queen Elizabeth I of...
in 1603, when King James VI of Scotland inherited the English throne from his double first cousin twice removed, Queen Elizabeth I. Fear of Scottish cooperation with France or in a French invasion was a constant concern in England. Three previous attempts to unite the two countries by Acts of Parliament, in 1606, 1667, and 1689 were unsuccessful, although the political and economic circumstances at the start of the 18th century were such that the political establishments, many of whom had lost large sums of money in the ill-fated Darién scheme
Darién scheme
The Darién scheme was an unsuccessful attempt by the Kingdom of Scotland to become a world trading nation by establishing a colony called "New Caledonia" on the Isthmus of Panama in the late 1690s...
which had failed in part due to English interference, supported the idea, despite its being deeply unpopular among the Scottish population at large.
Passage
Deeper political integration had been a key policy of Queen AnneAnne of Great Britain
Anne ascended the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Act of Union, two of her realms, England and Scotland, were united as a single sovereign state, the Kingdom of Great Britain.Anne's Catholic father, James II and VII, was deposed during the...
(reigned 1702–14). Under the aegis of the Queen and her advisors the Treaty of Union was drawn up, and negotiations between England and Scotland began in earnest in 1706.
Scottish proponents of union believed that failure to accede to the Bill would result in the imposition of union under less favourable terms, and English troops were stationed just south of the border and in Northern Ireland as an "encouragement". Months of fierce debate in both capital cities and throughout both kingdoms followed. In Scotland, the debate on occasion dissolved into civil disorder, most notably by the notorious 'Edinburgh Mob'. The prospect of a union of the kingdoms was deeply unpopular among the Scottish population at large, and talk of an uprising was widespread. However the Treaty was signed and the documents were rushed south with a large military escort.
The united Kingdom of Great Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
was born on May 1, 1707, shortly after the parliaments of Scotland
Parliament of Scotland
The Parliament of Scotland, officially the Estates of Parliament, was the legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland. The unicameral parliament of Scotland is first found on record during the early 13th century, with the first meeting for which a primary source survives at...
and England
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...
had ratified the Treaty of Union by each approving Acts of Union
Acts of Union 1707
The Acts of Union were two Parliamentary Acts - the Union with Scotland Act passed in 1706 by the Parliament of England, and the Union with England Act passed in 1707 by the Parliament of Scotland - which put into effect the terms of the Treaty of Union that had been agreed on 22 July 1706,...
combining the two parliaments and the two royal titles. Scotland's crown, scepter, and sword of state remained at Edinburgh Castle. It formed the single Kingdom of Great Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
. Queen Anne (already Queen of both England and Scotland) formally became the first occupant of the unified British throne, with Scotland sending forty-five Members to the new House of Commons of Great Britain
House of Commons of Great Britain
The House of Commons of Great Britain was the lower house of the Parliament of Great Britain between 1707 and 1801. In 1707, as a result of the Acts of Union of that year, it replaced the House of Commons of England and the third estate of the Parliament of Scotland, as one of the most significant...
, as well as representative peers to the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
.
Spurious records of financial payoffs to Scottish parliamentarians were later referred to by Robert Burns
Robert Burns
Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
when he wrote "We're bought and sold for English gold, Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation
Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation
Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation is a Scottish folk song whose lyrics are taken from an eponymous Robert Burns poem of 1791. It derides those members of the Parliament of Scotland who signed the Act of Union with England in 1707, comparing their treachery to the country with the tradition of...
! Some recent historians, however, have emphasized the legitimacy of the vote.
Details of the Treaty
The Treaty consisted of 25 articles.Article 1 states "That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
."
Article 2 provided for the succession of the House of Hanover
House of Hanover
The House of Hanover is a deposed German royal dynasty which has ruled the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg , the Kingdom of Hanover, the Kingdom of Great Britain, the Kingdom of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
, and for Protestant succession
Succession to the British Throne
Succession to the British throne is governed both by common law and statute. Under common law the crown is currently passed on by male-preference primogeniture. In other words, succession passes first to an individual's sons, in order of birth, and subsequently to daughters, again in order of birth....
as set out in the English Act of Settlement
Act of Settlement 1701
The Act of Settlement is an act of the Parliament of England that was passed in 1701 to settle the succession to the English throne on the Electress Sophia of Hanover and her Protestant heirs. The act was later extended to Scotland, as a result of the Treaty of Union , enacted in the Acts of Union...
.
Article 3 provide for the creation of the one, unified, parliament of Great Britain
Parliament of Great Britain
The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland...
.
Articles 4 gave subjects of Great Britain freedom of trade and navigation within the kingdom and "the Dominions and Plantations thereunto belonging".
Articles 5 to 18 dealt with aspects of trade, movement, taxes, regulation etc., to ensure equal treatment for all subjects
British subject
In British nationality law, the term British subject has at different times had different meanings. The current definition of the term British subject is contained in the British Nationality Act 1981.- Prior to 1949 :...
of the new kingdom.
Article 16 required the introduction of a common currency
Economic and monetary union
An economic and monetary union is a type of trade bloc which is composed of an economic union with a monetary union. It is to be distinguished from a mere monetary union , which does not involve a common market. This is the fifth stage of economic integration...
for Great Britain, subsequently effected through the 1707-1710 Scottish recoinage.
Article 19 provided for the continuation of Scotland's separate legal system
Scots law
Scots law is the legal system of Scotland. It is considered a hybrid or mixed legal system as it traces its roots to a number of different historical sources. With English law and Northern Irish law it forms the legal system of the United Kingdom; it shares with the two other systems some...
.
Article 20 provided for the protection of heritable offices, superiorities, heritable jurisdictions, offices for life, and jurisdictions for life after the union.
Article 21 provided for the protection of the rights of royal burgh
Royal burgh
A royal burgh was a type of Scottish burgh which had been founded by, or subsequently granted, a royal charter. Although abolished in 1975, the term is still used in many of the former burghs....
s.
Article 22 provided for Scotland representation in the Parliament of Great Britain to be 16 Lords
Representative peer
In the United Kingdom, representative peers were those peers elected by the members of the Peerage of Scotland and the Peerage of Ireland to sit in the British House of Lords...
and 45 MPs.
Article 23 provided for Scotland's peers to have the same rights as English peers in any trials of peers.
Article 24 provided for the creation of a new Great Seal
Great Seal of the Realm
The Great Seal of the Realm or Great Seal of the United Kingdom is a seal that is used to symbolise the Sovereign's approval of important state documents...
for Great Britain, different from those of England and Scotland, and that the English Great Seal could be used until this had been created.
Article 25 provides that all laws of either kingdom that may be inconsistent with the Articles in the Treaty are to be declared void.
Further reading
- Ferguson, William. Scotland's relations with England: a survey to 1707 (1994)
- Fry, Michael. The Union: England, Scotland and the Treaty of 1707 (2006)
- Harris, Bob. "The Anglo Scottish Treaty of Union, 1707 in 2007: Defending the Revolution, Defeating the Jacobites," Journal of British Studies Jan. 2010, Vol. 49, No. 1: 28-46. in JSTOR Historiography
External links
- The Treaty of Union, the Scottish ParliamentScottish ParliamentThe Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
- Text of Union with England Act
- Text of Union with Scotland Act