History Spotlight, 1/16

On this day, in 1707, the Scottish Parliament ratifies the Act of Union, paving the way for the creation of Great Britain. Union between England and Scotland had been tried before. Edward I tried it by force during the Scottish wars in the 1290's. It didn't take. When James VI of Scotland assumed the English throne on the death of his aunt Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, he said that he wanted to be known as the King of Great Britain, rather than the somewhat wordy "King James I of England and VI of Scotland." This didn't take, either. The English parliament was concerned that James would want to run the country in the authoritarian manner that he had run Scotland and the Scots were worried that James was going to "go native" and wind up as just another English oppressor. When James got distracted by other matters, most people just breathed a sigh of relief and let the issue drop.

Later on, during the Commonwealth (this is after the English Civil War, in which the Scots supported the losing side), Oliver Cromwell conquered Scotland and created the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland. It lasted until Cromwell died and the Stuart line was restored.

Scotland, however, was playing a game of "Keeping up with England" that it was destined to fail. England had always been a trading powerhouse and Scotland wanted a slice of that sweet moneycake by setting up their own trading outpost in the New World. The place the selected was the peninsula of Darien in Panama. The first big problem with this was that Spain owned Panama and didn't like the Scots horning in on their action. The second, even bigger problem, is that the guy they got their intel from on Darien was a drunk and a swindle and probably had never been there.

He told the Scots that Darien was a paradise on Earth (in reality it was a malarial swamp) and that the natives were friendly and peaceable (they were about as friendly as you would imagine natives who had been getting kicked around by the Spanish for 200 years might be).

Scotland raised the funds for the first expedition and sent a thousand hopeful Scots to Panama, armed with Bibles and combs (they had been told the natives loved to comb their hair). Some months later, when the second wave of settlers came through, all they found was graves. What malaria, dysentery and starvation didn't do, the natives took care of.

As it turns out, England, ever ruthless had been actively sabotaging the project from the start. England didn't want Scotland as a trading rival - they didn't want Scotland as a rival for anything. And when Spain asked England to do something about those pesky Scots in Darien, they were only too happy to oblige. The English Parliament passed laws forbidding any English person or company from investing in the Darien scheme. As Scotland had already invested almost all of its money on this, the much hoped-for infusion of English cash was cut off.

With the failure of the Darien scheme, the Scots were out something like 500,000 pounds - almost two-thirds of their national revenue. At that point, England made them an offer they couldn't refuse. England would give Scotland equal access to English ports and trade and pay off Scotland's debts (called "The Equivalent) if only Scotland would sign one little piece of paper. That paper, the Act of Union would basically cause Scotland to cease to exist as an independent country. There would be no Scottish parliament (there would be a Parliament of Great Britain, but that would be in London) and no Scottish monarchs. Many Scots saw it (and still do) as the deal with the Devil and it was on this day in 1707 the Scotland signed in blood.