Issue 1: Worsening Anglo-scottish relations

Question 1

Reason 1: Navigation acts/international trade

Answer 1

• the navigation acts were passed between 1660-1670. England restricted Scotland to only being able to sell scottish produce to england, treating them as foreign merchants. Scots felt their trade was under attack, which worsened economic hardship

Question 2

Reason 2: General economic issues

Answer 2

• In the 17th century there was a “little ice age”, of of the worst weather experienced in Scotland. There was a 15% population decrease, and this struggle was only emphasised because of the navigation acts england had imposed which meant Scotland was unable to have crucial supplies leading to the starvation of thousands.
• Additonally, as T.M Devine argues, “Williams wars with france were having serious effects on scottish economy”, which scotland was forced into against its will.

Question 3

Reason 3: The darien disaster

Answer 3

Reasons why darien failed:

1: Unsuitability
- Darien has 200 inches of rainfall yearly
- The area is full of diseases that scot’s have no immunity to, for example, yellow fever
- The soil wasn’t suitable for crop growth and by 1699 scottish settlers were starving

Reason 2: Poor planning
- William paterson did not consider dariens closeness to the spanish empire, and the scot’s were under constant threat from them as it was not made clear if they were okay with the scheme or not.
- 1,200 people on the initial voyage had no idea where they were going

Reason 3: The actions of king william/the english
- It was believed there was a threat on english trade so william banned english and dutch investment in the scheme
- He also banned english colonies from helping scotland, such as Jamaica, Barbados, and new york.

Question 4

Reason 4: The problem of succession

Answer 4

• Scotland and england could not agree on who should rule, which lead to the act of settlement in 1701, which guaranteed the throne to hanover after Anne’s death. However this was not discussed with scotland, who were rightfully unhappy.
• Queen Anne was very anti scottish
• The scottish parliament should have contacted 20 days after king williams death, but instead it took 90, and they believed their sovereignty was being ignored.

Question 5

Reason 5: the legislative war

Answer 5

• after the act of settlement, scotland passed the act of security, giving the, the right to choose queen anne’s successor. And stated that if scotland was to be in a full union with england, they needed free trade with all of its colonies.
• England declared scotland to be at war with france, so they passed the act anet peace and war. This stated that Scotland had the right to declare its own wars and peace.
• England decided scotland could not trade with france, so in response they passed the wool and wine acts. The wool act was seen as a direct attack against england, and allowed the export but banned the import of wool. The wine act allowed them to legally import french wine, which angered the english as the french were their enemy.
• The worcester affair shows how much anti english beliefs there were in Scotland as an english boat was seized and the sailors were found guilty of piracy and executed in leith, in front of a large crowd.