Acts of Union
The Acts of Union 1707 were a pair of Parliamentary Acts passed during 1706 and 1707 by the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland to put into effect the Treaty of Union agreed on 22 July 1706. The Acts joined the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland (previously separate sovereign states, with separate legislatures but with the same monarch) into a single Kingdom of Great Britain.
The two countries had shared a monarch for about 100 years (since the Union of the Crowns in 1603, when King James VI of Scotland inherited the English throne from his first cousin twice removed, Queen Elizabeth I). Although described as a Union of Crowns, until 1707 there were in fact two separate Crowns resting on the same head. There had been three attempts in 1606, 1667, and 1689 to unite the two countries by Acts of Parliament, but it was not until the early eighteenth century that the idea had the will of both political establishments behind them, albeit for rather different reasons.
For monarchs after 1707 see List of British monarchs.
Read more about this topic: List Of English Monarchs
Famous quotes containing the words acts of, acts and/or union:
“Men are mad most of their lives; few live sane, fewer die so.... The acts of people are baffling unless we realize that their wits are disordered. Man is driven to justice by his lunacy.”
—Edward Dahlberg (1900–1977)
“That’s the penalty we have to pay for our acts of foolishness—someone else always suffers for them.”
—Alfred Sutro (1863–1933)
“Every good cause gained a victory when the Union troops were triumphant. Our final victory was the triumph of religion, of virtue, of knowledge.... During those four years, whatever our motives, whatever our lives, we were fighting on God’s side. We were doing His work. What would this country have been if we had failed?”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)