III.

Act of Union of 1707

The Act of Union passed in 1707 by the parliaments of England and Scotland created the Kingdom of Great Britain. Although Scotland retained its judicial system and its Presbyterian Church, its parliament was joined with that of England. Henceforth, Scotland sent 45 elected members to the British House of Commons and 16 of its peers to the House of Lords. Scots received the same trading rights as the English had in England and its overseas empire. Scotland also received money (called “the Equivalent”) equal to the share it was assuming of England's national debt.

The crowns of the two countries had been united in 1603 when James Stuart (James VI of Scotland) succeeded Elizabeth I as James I of England, but the kingdoms otherwise remained separate. In 1654 the countries were united as a commonwealth under the rule of Oliver Cromwell. When Charles II of England was restored to the throne in 1660, England and Scotland again became separate. Impetus for union came from disagreements between the two parliaments. These included Scotland's refusal to approve the Act of Settlement (1701) passing the royal succession on to the German House of Hanover after the death of Queen Anne (the last Stuart sovereign), and from England's fear that Scotland might seek to restore an exiled Catholic Stuart to the throne.