Acts of Union create Great Britain

On May 1, 1707, the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland ceased to exist as separate states and became the Kingdom of Great Britain. Each country's parliament had passed an Act of Union, and the two were merged into one Parliament of Great Britain, sitting at Westminster. Scotland sent 45 members to the House of Commons and 16 representative peers to the House of Lords, kept its own legal system and Presbyterian national church, and accepted a shared flag, coinage and trade area.¹²

The two kingdoms had shared a monarch since 1603, when Elizabeth I died childless and James VI of Scotland inherited the English throne, but they kept separate parliaments. The Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the later Act of Settlement of 1701 gave England a Protestant, Hanoverian line of succession. Scotland's parliament declined to follow in 1704, raising the prospect of a hostile neighbor with a different king. England also wanted to secure its northern border during a war against France, while many Scottish leaders wanted access to English markets and colonies after the Darien scheme, a failed attempt to settle Panama, had drained the country's wealth.²³

The treaty passed the Scottish Parliament amid street protests and accusations of bribery, and many Scots opposed it. Over time, though, union brought Scotland free trade with England and its overseas empire. Scots became prominent in the Enlightenment, in business and in colonial administration. In 1801 the union grew to include Ireland as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.²