Scotland's sovereignty asserted: the debate over the Anglo-Scottish Union of 1707

Abstract

Scotland's sovereignty asserted: the debate over the Anglo-Scottish Union of 1707* With the parliamentary union between Scotland and England in 1707, two independent realms, the separate crowns of which had forjust over a century been worn by the same monarchs, became one United Kingdom of Great Britain. A new political entity, which was to form the basis of the British Empire, was born. The successful completion of the negotiations and the passage of the Acts of Union in both parliaments united the two crowns and theoretically entailed the dissolution of two national parliaments and the creation of a supra-national parliament—the parliament of Great Britain. But the new 'British' parliament was in fact simply an enlarged English parliament,towhich a limited number of Scots members were admitted. As the Scottish historian William Ferguson has noted, 'Scotland lost her sovereignty in both theory and practice, in theory so did England, but not in practice'.1 The union was simply one possible solution to the perennial problem of Anglo-Scottish relations which had remained strained after the Union of Crowns of 1603. This Regal union had disadvantaged the northern kingdom; when the Stuarts inherited the English throne the political centre of gravity moved down to London. For most of the seventeenth century British kings had put the interests of their wealthier English kingdom before those of Scotland. By the end of the century, Scotland, embroiled in England's continental wars and suffering from the effects of the English navigation acts and the Darien fiasco, was on the brink of financial disaster. As the wealth and power of the court increased under William of Orange and then Anne, so did Scottish resentment of the impact of English policy on Scottish affairs. By 1703 the relationship between the kingdoms had reached breaking point. The death of Anne's last surviving heir in 1700 had opened up the vexed question of the succession. The English Act of Settlement of 1701, which accepted the Hanoverian claim, had angered the Scots by its arrogant assumption that Scotland would automatically follow England's lead in the matter, and the resumption of war with France—a war into which Anne had entered Scotland without consulting her Scottish parliament—further fuelled resentment. Union * I am grateful to Dr John Robertson for pointing out several errors of interpretation and directing m y attention towards important aspects of the Scottish intellectual context which I had neglected in my original analysis. The errors and omissions that remain are m y own. Thanks are also due to Glen Burgess, for asking the right questions, to Andrew Sharp for his valuable criticism and advice, and to the anonymous referees for their very useful comments. 1 Ferguson, cited in P. H. Scott, The Union of Scotland and England in Contemporary Documents with a Commentary, Edinburgh, 1979, p. 53. P A R E R G O N ns 11.2, December 1993 28 B. McPhail negotiations, encouraged by William and focussing on the possibility of free trade, had begun in 1702, but had rapidly ground to a halt, mainly because of England's lack of enthusiasm. Anti-court and, by extension, anti-English feeling scaled such heights in Scotland that it briefly united the country's warring factions and manifested itself in political action which threatened the stability of both nations. The Scottish election of 1703, called reluctantly because of a tax boycott and the need to raise supply, had returned a House in which the court party was seriously weakened. The succession question gave a briefly united opposition a golden opportunity to redefine the constitutional relationship with England in Scotland's favour. Its parliamentary majority resulted in the successful passage of the Act of Security and Succession, reluctantly given the Royal Assent in 1704. The Act declared that the Union of Crowns would cease on the death of Anne unless Parliament had by that time placed limitations on the monarchy sufficient to protect Scotland from future English interference through the court.2 In addition, the Act provided for the regular mustering of the militia. Scotland had thrown down the gauntlet, and England lost no time in picking it up. She would countenance neither...