SOME ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF THE UNION OF PARLIAMENTS
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9485.1955.tb00742.x |
| Date | 01 October 1955 |
| Author | A. M. Carstairs |
| Published date | 01 October 1955 |
SOME
ECONOMIC ASPECTS
OF
THE UNION
OF
PARLIAMENTS
AT
the time
of
the Union
of
Parliaments in
1707
England and Scotland
11~1
been joined in
a
dynastic union
for
a
hundred years but were
separated by more than three hundred years
of
economic development.
'llicre
had been
no
fundamental change
in
the Scottish economy
since
the Middle
Ages.
The methods
of
agriculture
were
primitive; hardly
;~ny
nianufacturing industries
had
been developed; raw materials and
I'cjodstulTs were exported, manufactures and luxuries imported; overseas
triidc. still
followed
the routes which had been familiar in the Middle
Ap.
;tnd
until
nearly the end
of
the seventeenth century hardly any
Scoltisli
merchants ventured
out
of
European waters. Scotland
was.
iri
short.
a
backward country, and that this had some
sort
of
bearing
OII
[tic:
C;ILISL'S
and consequences
of
the Union
of
Parlianients has long
hcen
a
conimonplace among historians. The relevance
of
economic
I'ac.lors
has,
however, too often been left vague and undefined. It is the
ptiqwse
of
this article to reconsider how far the events leading up to
I;~U
llriit~n
were shaped by Scottish economic interests.
or
economic
pcilicy.
and
to
assess
the influence
of
the Union
on
certain aspects
of
Sicit
[isti economic development in the eighteenth century.
I
SCOTTISII
ECONOMIC INTERESTS
AND
THE
NEGOT~ATIONS
FOR
A
UNION
On
this point there
are
conflicting views among historians.
On
the
oiie
h:trtJ,
it
is said that
'
the
Scots since the Revolution had set their
iitintls
upon
obtaining
for
themselves a share
of
the world's trade. They
fouiid
that
this
was
inipossible without English help. and that they
cou!d
iiot
force
free trade from England
for
any less return than their
assciit
to
an incorporating
union.''
'
Incorporation
as
the price
of
free
trxrlc.
is
tlie
sscrct
of
the
Union
. . .
Thc vindication
of
the Scottish
wprcceiiratives lics
in
the
fact that they could get
free
trade
on
no
other
Thcdora
Keith.
'The
Economic
Causes
for a
Scottish
Union,'
Eng.
rflist.
Cf,I.
..
XXIV
(1909).
pp.
5Y-60.
64
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