The Duke of Queensberry
presents Queen Anne with
the historic Act of Union in 1707
Christopher A Whatley is professor of Scottish
history and former vice-principal and head of arts
and social sciences at Dundee University. The Scots
and the Union, written with Derek Patrick, was
published by Edinburgh University Press in 2006THE UNION OF 1707
1688–89
Flight of the Catholic James II and
VII. Crowns of Scotland and England
offered – separately – to William of
Orange and Mary1695
Subscription books for the Company
of Scotland Trading to Africa and
the Indies are opened.1700
Rumours of retreat of Scottish
settlers from the Company’s colony at
Darien, near Panama are confirmed.1701
Westminster passes the Act of
Settlement. With no surviving
children, Anne, William’s likely
successor, is to be succeeded by
Sophia, the Protestant Electress of
Hanover. The Scots are not consulted.1702
William dies and the throne passes
to Anne1703
A general election in Scotland
returns a parliament with an opposition
coalition comprising many more
Jacobites, and a nationalist tone1704
Act of Security passed in Scotland.
The act insisted that, unless England
granted the Scots certain concessions,
they would decide their own successor1705
A nadir in Anglo-Scottish relations.
The hanging takes place on Leith
sands of the captain and crew
members of the English vessel
Worcester in retaliation for the seizure
of a Scottish ship the previous year1706
Union commissioners from both
countries meet in London to discuss
terms. Concerns in Scotland about
what has been agreed. Disorder grows1707
The 25 Articles of Union are ratified
by the Scottish Parliament, followed by
Westminster. The United Kingdom of
Great Britain is inauguratedNew party members of the patriotic
opposition in Scotland, who had attacked
government ministers from the time of
the flight from Darien, saw things
similarly. Typical was William Bennet of
Grubbet, a Williamite who had sided with
the opposition for several years but early in
1706 reflected that union looked to be a
“fair bargain”; with peace, security of
religion and compensation for Darien and
free trade, he saw “the end of our journey”.
Few Scots were entirely comfortable with
an arrangement which sacrificed their
nation’s parliamentary independence,
but pragmatic patriots like John Clerk
of Penicuik recognised that in an age of
muscular mercantilism, Scottish
sovereignty was more apparent than real.
If Scotland was to flourish, union with
England looked to him and many other
MPs as the best way forward.
The practicalities of merging the two
countries’ administrative systems,
including the coinage, weights and
measures and taxation, proved more
difficult than expected. Economic benefits
promised to and anticipated by the Scots
were slow to materialise. Over time,
however, they managed to make the Union
work to their advantage. Together, the
peoples of the United Kingdom forged the
British Empire and in the 19th century
established Britain as the workshop of the
world. The Union’s integrity came underincreasing challenge in the later 20th
century, but the evolving Union still
remains intact – for now. It was as the
benefits of the Union became less obvious
to Scots that nationalist historians in
particular developed their critique of the
manner in which it was arrived at, relying
in part on the partisan evidence of
contemporary Jacobite opponents like
George Lockhart of Carnwath. From the
1960s, too, there has been a reaction
against the previously dominant portrayals
of pro-Union politicians in Scotland in
1706–7 as visionary statesmen.
In 2014, few in Scotland will accord their
unionist forefathers this kind of heroic
status. However, the fresh research
reported here makes clear that there were
thoughtful, English-speaking Scots
Protestants who were concerned for their
divided nation. They judged that union
under a single monarch with their
wealthier, militarily stronger neighbour,
with whom they shared the same island,
offered security and a context within
which the Scots could achieve the material
success that they believed underpinned
European civilisation.MARY EVANS PICTURE LIBRARY/ALAMY