A Short History of Scotland and England's Union
Dan Snow's History Hit
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The Scots and the Union
The Alien Act of 1705 made it clear that Scots would not only be excluded from English overseas trade, but were we aliens within England unless union negotiations opened. A lot of patriots nonetheless went down the union road for religious reasons because they feared a Catholic restoration in Scotland under the Jacobites. There was also the feel that Scotland was enormously ambitious from very early day to overseas trade. The access to imperial markets promised by the union was absolutely mission critical. And that's what swung the union. But even so, the union itself is rather an odd beast because the document partly is about things which are to do with parliamentary right and can be changed by future Westminster parlance. So in a sense
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