| Documents relevant to personal and legislative unions of the Countries of the United Kingdom |
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The Treaty of Union is the name given to the agreement that led to the creation of the united kingdom of Great Britain,[1][2][3][4] 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.
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The idea of uniting the two sovereign states had been widely discussed since the Union of the Crowns 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.[5]
Deeper political integration had been a key policy of Queen Anne (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 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.[6] 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![7] Some recent historians, however, have emphasized the legitimacy of the vote.[8]
The Treaty consisted of 25 articles.[9]
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 burghs.
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.