Union, Acts of, served to unite Scotland and Ireland with England. They brought separate parliaments together into one United Kingdom parliament at Westminster, in London. The first act, concerning Scotland, became effective in 1707. The second act concerned Ireland and took effect in 1801.
The Act of Union of 1707
followed a Scottish threat to restore the exiled Stuart family to the throne of Scotland and to establish a separate nation. The English Parliament offered Scotland political representation and equality in trading facilities in return for a complete merging of the crowns and parliaments of England and Scotland. Both parliaments passed the Act of Union. Under it, Scotland was represented by 16 peers in the House of Lords and 45 members in the House of Commons. Scotland retained its own national church and laws. The new, combined country was called Great Britain.
The Act of Union of 1801
was initiated by William Pitt the Younger, the British prime minister. Irish demands for independence had become more urgent after the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789. Pitt hoped that by uniting the British and Irish parliaments, the interests of Ireland would be better represented. He also hoped to pass further laws preventing discrimination against Roman Catholics in Ireland.
Largely as a result of political maneuvering by the British, the Irish Parliament passed the Act in 1800. It abolished the separate Irish Parliament and transferred its powers to the Westminster Parliament, which then governed the whole of Britain and Ireland. The crosses of St. Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland; St. George, the patron saint of England; and St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, were united to make one flag, the Union Jack. The country became known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Despite the changes, King George III opposed legislation that would have benefited the Irish Roman Catholics. The new, united Parliament did not achieve Pitt’s original objectives, and the act did not settle Irish discontent. The Irish fought for their independence from the United Kingdom in the early 1900’s, and most of Ireland became independent in 1922 (see Ireland, History of). Today, the United Kingdom’s full name is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
