The Acts of Union

The Acts of Union were two Parliamentary acts, which joined England and Scotland together as a single nation, Great Britain.

Before

England and Scotland had separate governments and monarchs until 1603, when James the 5th of Scotland was crowned King of England. This was because he was the closest relative of Queen Elizabeth.

Even though the two countries had the same King they both had separate parliaments, and did not want to join together into one nation.

The Attempts

There were three total attempts to join the two countries by the Act of Parliament. These attempts were in the years 1606, 1667, and 1689; but either England or Scotland discouraged the idea; finally in 1702, when Queen Anne became Queen that all changed.

In 1702, Queen Anne’s main goal was to organize a union treaty between Scotland and England, and in 1706 both England and Scotland decided to work out there differences since both countries had compelling reasons to join together.

Scotland who had very free spirited people that wanted to stay independent from England. England had tried many times to take over Scotland forcefully, but the attempts never worked in the long run, but in 1706, both countries felt that they could both benefit greatly by joining together, even though they had to give up their national independence.

The Acts

Scotland and England both had things they wanted to gain; Scotland wanted to gain access to colonial markets after their first and only colony of Caledonia was a huge disaster and failure, England wanted to ensure that the rulers of both England and Scotland would remain the same, this would prevent any future religious wars.

The Treaty of Union was made official in the year 1707, which combined the two nations of Scotland and England together into a new nation called, Great Britain. The two parliaments were merged into one.

The Scottish Presbyterian Church which was opposed to the Act soon became less opposing since another Act was made to secure the rights of the Church of Scotland.

Conclusion

This is my essay on the Acts of Union.