Title: ‘Could the Scots Become True British?’ The Prelude to the Scottish Peerage Bill, 1706–16
Abstract: This chapter revisits the debates and contests surrounding the question of the role of post-union Scots peers in the House of Lords, thus illuminating the interaction of political argument and party interests in the early eighteenth century. In June 1706, thirty-one Scottish commissioners met their English counterparts for the Treaty of Union between England and Scotland and, after heated discussions, succeeded in making a framework for the Union. Even before the ratification of the Union, Scotland's approach to the nuptials was fraught with numerous challenges, one of which was the Scottish peerage question. In 1719 the Whig ministry expected that a Peerage Bill would answer it, by turning the notorious system of representative peers into one based on heredity, but the government failed to pass the legislation. This chapter examines the controversies surrounding Union negotiations and how they led to the crisis around the Peerage Bills in 1718–1719.
Publication Year: 2016
Publication Date: 2016-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot