5.2 Scotland 1688-c1730

Question 1

Define Highlanders.

Answer 1

Native Gaelic-speaking people with their own culture and traditions. Lived in family communities (clans) in the harsh conditions of the northern mountains and were feared and looked down on by Lowlanders.

Question 2

Define Lowlanders.

Answer 2

English-speaking people who dominated the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh.

Question 3

Reasons for Highlanders to support James.

Answer 3

• He was a Stuart, from the ancient Scottish royal family
• He was still legally King according to Scottish law
• Scotland had not been consulted about the invitation to become King from members of Parliament to William of Orange.

Question 4

Who did the Lowlanders support?

Answer 4

William

Question 5

Who did the Highlanders support?

Answer 5

James

Question 6

Reasons for Lowlanders to support William.

Answer 6

• He was a Protestant, like most Scots, and James’ attempts to increase rights for Catholics had been unpopular in Scotland.
• He was ruling jointly with his wife Mary, who was James’ daughter and therefore also a Stuart from the Scottish royal family.

Question 7

Why did Scotland face economic ruin?

Answer 7

English policies that held the Scottish economy back
- The Navigation Act prevented Scottish ships from being involved in trade to England and the colonies overseas
- Two powerful English companies, the EIC and RAC were granted a monopoly of trade, in goods and enslaved people, with India and Africa: Scottish companies had no access to this trade
- England’s involvement in foreign wars meant that trade with much of Europe was often cut off.

• Scotland had its own parliament, but its ministers were appointed by the King, who was based in London.
• Neglected by Kings in England and dragged into their foreign wars, Scotland became increasingly poor.
• Throughout 1690s, harvests failed and there were severe famines, between 1/3 and 1/5 of the population died or emigrated.

Question 8

Explain the Darien Scheme 1698.

Answer 8

• Proposed by William Paterson, suggested the formation of a Scottish colony in Central America, on a strip of land in Panama called the Isthmus of Darien.
• The idea was that this settlement could control the trade between North and South America, and between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
• Paterson helped set up the Bank of Scotland and parliament created the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies.
• Scottish nobles invested £400,000 (about £80 million today) and a wide range of ordinary Scots contributed. Several English merchants and bankers also backed the scheme

Question 9

1701 Act of Settlement
Why did England want a union with Scotland?

Answer 9

• After 1700, England wanted Scotland to accept the 1701 Act of Settlement which stated that German Hanoverians would succeed the last Stuart monarch, and wanted to ensure greater union with Scotland.
• They wanted to end the threat of war with Scotland at a time when England was facing the possibility of a French invasion.
• They also wanted to end the risk of a Jacobite taking the Scottish throne

Question 10

Carrot (positive) methods used to get Scotland to agree to the Act of Settlement.

Answer 10

• Greater trade freedom and promised to write off the debt from the Darien Scheme
• Scottish institutions such as the Church and legal system would not be changed
• Act of Security: they could decide independently who should be their next monarch
• Many Scottish politicians were bribed with large amounts of money and seats in the House of Lords

Question 11

Sanctions against Scotland placed to force Scotland to agree to the Act of Settlement

Answer 11

• English Aliens Act of 1705 threatened to punish Scotland economically with a ban on exports to England
• English troops were moved northwards and the Scots began to fear an English invasion if they did not agree

Question 12

Reasons why the Darien Scheme failed

Answer 12

Mistakes by the settlers:
- poor supplies
- inappropriate farming skills
- lack of fresh water
- settlement in an area that the Spanish regarded as part of their empire
- failed negotiations with the local Tule people

Conditions they faced:
- hot, humid, swampy marshland
- torrential rain
- disease that spread rapidly e.g. malaria
- malnutrition
- difficult terrain for transporting goods: marshland, mountains and thick rainforest

Undermining from England:
- opposition from King William and from the EIC
- withdrawal of support by English directors

Question 13

Examples and reasons of those who were against the Darien settlement

Answer 13

Indigenous people of Panama had no interest in the trinkets they were offered and could see no advantage in an alliance with settlers who would antagonise the Spanish.

King William was against the Darien settlement because it got in the way of his negotiations with the Spanish. He stopped all English ships and colonies from trading with the settlers. He also convinced the Dutch investors to withdraw and refuse to sell ships to the company.

EIC saw the scheme as a threat to its profits.

Question 14

Conflict between the Williamites and Jacobites

Answer 14

• In 1603, Queen Elizabeth I had died without children
• The King of Scotland, became king of England and Ireland, which meant that Scotland and England (previously two separate nations) were ruled by the same King, although retained their own parliaments.
• This arrangement was called the Union of Crowns
• In 1688, when James VII of Scotland and II of England was forced to give up his throne to William of Orange, Scottish people were divided
• Both James and William wrote to the Scottish parliament asking for backing

Question 15

Who did the Scottish parliament choose to back and why?
Explain the impact of this decision.

Answer 15

• In 1689, the Scottish parliament backed William in a ‘Claim of Right’ that blamed James for the troubles and said that no Catholic could ever be king again.
• Jacobites rose up in anger and government troops fought them at the Battle of Killiecrankie.
• Although the Jacobites won the war, their leader and a third of their army was killed. One month later, their rebellion collapsed at the Battle of Dunkeld

Question 16

Arguments for union with England

Answer 16

• High position in London parliament for Scottish politicians
• Greater security and protection from enemies
• Guaranteed Protestant rule
• Free trade and improved economy

Question 17

Arguments against union with England

Answer 17

• Most Scottish people were against union
• Loss of Scottish identity and independence, and domination by England
• Rule by foreigners
• Increased taxation

Question 18

The impact on Scotland of the Act of Union - Military control

Answer 18

• The 1708 Cruiser and Convoy Act enabled protection of Scotland by the Royal Navy from any threat to British security, Jacobites as well as the French and Spanish
• The government in England reacted firmly after the 1715 rising. The 1716 Disarming Act made it illegal for Highlanders to carry weapons
• The English kept a standing army in the north of Scotland
• From 1725 onwards, General George Wade was given the task of building a network of military roads and bridges though the Highlands that would enable government troops to move quickly in case of trouble.

Question 19

The impact on Scotland of the Act of Union - Political advancement

Answer 19

• There were new career opportunities for leading Scottish politicians and other wealthy people
• With no Scottish parliament, government was even more distant from the lives of ordinary Scottish people, especially Highlanders who felt they were being ruled by a colonial power
• Many Scottish people became involved at all levels in the growth of the British Empire, as administrators, soldiers, planters and, later, even governors

Question 20

The impact on Scotland of the Act of Union - Economic benefits

Answer 20

• Thos who had lost in the Darien Scheme got their money back with added interest and several invested it in a new bank, the Royal Bank of Scotland
• Thanks to freer trade, exports of grain and oatmeal more than doubled between 1707 and 1722. Agricultural techniques improved.
• By the 1730s, Scotland’s economy started to boom, largely due to the exploitation of the growing British Empire. Merchant shipping benefited hugely.

Question 21

The impact on Scotland of the Act of Union - Economic problems

Answer 21

• After 1710, taxes and customs duties were heavily increased, causing suffering for many.
• As a result of high taxation, smuggling was common. A customs investigation in 1715-17 found that over 60% of tobacco had been smuggled
• Scottish industry could not compete with that of England, and much of Scotland’s capital wealth was moved to London
• There was no sudden prosperity and many industries, such as the paper industry, struggled

Question 22

The impact on Scotland of the Act of Union - Social change

Answer 22

• There were regular protests against the union
• The Malt Tax led to riots across Scotland in 1725. In Glasgow, eight people died and rioters were punished harshly
• The 1724 Levellers ‘fence-smashing’ movement was a response to landlords who were enclosing their land to sheep farming and evicting their poor tenants who became homeless and unemployed
• Being in Great Britain meant prosperity and a higher standard of living for many Lowlanders, but it resulted in greater poverty for Highlanders, and eventually the destruction of their way of life

Question 23

The Glorious Revolution

Answer 23

• In 1688, James II of England (a Catholic) and his wife had a baby boy. Parliament were horrified and decided to act, inviting James’ Protestant daughter Mary and her husband William to come to England and take the crown
• This bloodless change of monarch was known as the Glorious Revolution

Question 24

Reasons why the Union with England was viewed as good

Answer 24

• Investors in the Darien Scheme got their money back
• Being in GB, brought more prosperity to Scotland
• Many Scottish people become involved at all levels in the growth of the British empire
• Scottish merchants set up profitable businesses in London

Question 25

Reasons why the Union with England was bad for Scotland?

Answer 25

• With no Scottish government, the government in London felt more distant from the lives of ordinary Scottish people
• After 1710, taxes were raised considerably causing suffering for many
• Scottish wealth moved to London

Question 26

Explain why William Paterson proposed the Darien Scheme

Answer 26

One reason why Paterson proposed the Darien Scheme was because Scotland began to face economic ruin. There were many English policies that held the Scottish economy back, for example, The Navigation Act. This prevented Scottish ships from being involved in the trade to England and colonies overseas. Furthermore, two powerful English companies, the EIC and RAC were granted a monopoly of trade, in goods and enslaved people, with India and Africa: Scottish companies had no access to this trade. Paterson envisaged the scheme would improve the economy, bringing money into Scotland.

A further reason why Paterson proposed the Darien scheme was to combat the unequal relationship between Scotland and England. Scotland had its own parliament, but its ministers were appointed by the King, who was based in London. Scotland was neglected by Kings in England and continuously dragged into their foreign wars. Paterson envisaged the scheme would give Scottish settlers autonomy and control over their own affairs.