United Kingdom

A

4

Revolution of 1688

Shortly thereafter, Protestant political leaders launched a revolt against James II. The Revolution of 1688 deposed James in favor of his nephew, William of Orange. William was a Dutch Protestant noble who had married James’s daughter Mary. An act of Parliament made Mary II and William III joint monarchs in 1689.

The revolution deeply divided the Scots. As the head of Scotland’s royal family, James II continued to attract loyalty, especially in the Highlands. The most powerful Scottish politicians and aristocrats were willing to accept William III only if he gave Scotland greater freedom to govern itself. William granted the Scots a nearly independent Parliament and pledged not to interfere in the Scottish church. William later made several overtures for a political union, offering the Scots the benefits of free trade with England, participation in the emerging English Empire, and guarantees to preserve Scotland’s legal, religious, and political institutions. The Scots rejected these proposals.

B

The Act of Union

A crisis concerning the succession to the throne brought more immediacy to the unification issue. William and Mary were childless, as was Mary’s sister, Anne, who succeeded to the throne in 1702. To assure a smooth transition of power to a Protestant monarch, in 1701 the English Parliament passed the Act of Settlement, which stated that a German branch of the royal family, the Hanovers, would succeed Anne as the monarchs of England. The Scottish Parliament refused to ratify the act, creating the potential that the two kingdoms would split after more than 100 years under the same monarchs.

The English feared that an independent Scotland might ally itself with France and provide a backdoor for a French invasion of England. The English fear of an invasion was especially strong at the beginning of the 18th century. At this time, England led a coalition of nations that were struggling to prevent Louis XIV of France from gaining mastery over Europe. After 1701 the stakes increased as Louis attempted to establish his grandson on the throne of Spain. The ensuing War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714) engulfed most of western Europe as England, Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, and later Portugal formed an alliance against France and Spain.

---

---

To avoid facing an enemy on the northern border, Anne’s ministers threatened the Scottish Parliament. They warned Scotland that they would treat all Scots as aliens in England, stop all trade between the nations, and capture or sink Scottish ships that traded with France. These threats led the Scots to accept the union with England.

In 1707 Great Britain was born. Fear had led the politicians of both nations to a union that would prove durable for hundreds of years. The Act of Union of 1707 created a single national administration, removed trade barriers between the countries, standardized taxation throughout the island, and created a single Parliament. However, England and Scotland continued to have separate traditions of law and separate official churches.

C

Developments in Ireland

Catholics had gained hope of a return to power in Ireland during the reign of James II, who appointed Catholics to positions of authority in the royal administration and the military hierarchy of the island. Following the Revolution of 1688, James II fled to Ireland, where he raised an army of Catholic supporters. William III defeated the Catholics and once again imposed the firm rule of Protestant nobles. Although Ireland had its own Parliament, which was composed of Protestant landowners, the real power lay with royal officials, who administered the island based on orders from London. The Protestant rulers of Ireland instituted a series of highly restrictive laws that excluded Catholics from owning land or firearms, from practicing certain professions, and from holding public office. These discriminatory laws united Ireland’s Catholic population in opposition to Protestant rule.

D

Rise of Great Britain

Great Britain emerged from the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714) as one of the world’s great military powers. Traditionally a naval power, Britain had built a modern, professional army during the reign of William III. This army, under the brilliant military leadership of John Churchill, 1st duke of Marlborough, led the anti-French alliance to decisive victories. On the seas, the British navy captured the island of Minorca in the Mediterranean and the strategic fortress of Gibraltar, which guards the entrance to the Mediterranean, on the southern coast of Spain. These victories gave Britain control over the Mediterranean.

In 1713 and 1714 a series of treaties known as the Peace of Utrecht brought the war to a formal conclusion. As a result of the war, Britain gained Gibraltar and important trade concessions from Spain, including a monopoly on the slave trade to the Spanish colonies. From the French they won the colonies of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Hudson Bay.

E

18th-Century Britain

E

1

18th-Century British Society

British society was stratified in the 18th century, with a tiny aristocracy and landed gentry at the top and a vast mass of poor at the bottom. For the aristocracy, the 18th century was its greatest age. British lords who controlled large estates saw their wealth increase from a boom in agricultural production, an expansion of investment opportunities, and the domination of the government by the aristocracy. They built vast palaces and developed new areas of London, Edinburgh, and Dublin. The monarchy almost exclusively appointed aristocrats to the most important political offices.

In contrast to the aristocracy, the gentry lost much of the political and financial influence it had wielded since the days of the Tudor monarchs. Many holders of small estates found that land was no longer the secure source of wealth it had once been, especially with the high taxes imposed on landowners to finance Britain’s wars. The immense estates of Britain’s aristocratic class provided their owners with a constant flow of funds, while higher taxes often consumed the profits generated by the smaller estates of the gentry. Although the gentry’s status in the local community was secure, merchants who traded luxury commodities overseas soon eclipsed the gentry in wealth and influence on the national level during the 18th century.

Society in the 18th century was becoming more fluid than in the past, in part because of the growth of the middle classes in towns and cities. Middle-class families earned their livings in trade or in professions, such as law and medicine. They valued literacy, thrift, and education, ideas that were spread by thinkers of the Age of Enlightenment. Especially influential were philosophers John Locke and David Hume and economist Adam Smith. Locke and Hume stressed the importance of the senses and the environment in shaping the individual. Locke also described the human mind as a blank slate that was to be filled by education and experience. Smith, in his book The Wealth of Nations (1776), demonstrated how the efficient organization of economic activity created wealth.

Increased literacy and education spread throughout the country. In towns, the middle classes established lending libraries to distribute books, clubs to discuss ideas, and coffeehouses to debate politics. Newspapers became the most popular form of media, and more than 50 towns produced their own newspapers by the end of the century. So much written material was being produced that writer Samuel Johnson thought it necessary to attempt to codify the language by publishing his Dictionary of the English Language (1755). Women shared in the upsurge in literacy. Dozens of weekly magazines and installment romance stories, which contained a strong moral message encouraging chastity and sobriety, were directed at women.

The newest form of literature was the novel. Pamela; or Virtue Rewarded (1740) by Samuel Richardson was one of the first works of this genre. The writings of novelist Jane Austen were popular toward the end of the century. The rise of the middle class was also seen in the most important religious movement of the era, Methodism. Founded by theologian John Wesley, Methodism encouraged the population at large to believe personal salvation could be achieved without relying on the formal rituals of the Church of England. Wesley directed his energies to laborers and the poor, but his message was derived from the attitudes of the middle class.

Poverty dominated the lower reaches of British society, especially as the population grew and food prices rose in the middle of the century. Towns swarmed with homeless families, the sick, and individuals with disabilities. The government and charitable organizations established orphanages and hospitals, as well as workhouses where the unemployed could find temporary work. While women and children were left to live in poverty, the government forced able-bodied men into military service by the thousands. London experienced the worst of this situation. Poor migrants flooded the city seeking work or charity; most found an early death instead.

Paradoxically, improvements in sanitation, medicine, and food production allowed many poor people to live longer lives, increasing the population of poor and adding to the problems. The epidemics of plague and smallpox, which had routinely killed a third of the people in towns during earlier centuries, were now a thing of the past. The production of cheap alcoholic beverages, such as gin and rum, eased some of the pain of the poor, but increased alcohol consumption also raised the level of violence and crime.

Crime was so common in 18th-century Britain that Parliament made more than 200 offenses punishable by death. Executions were weekly spectacles. To deal with excess prison populations, the British government deported many inmates to British overseas colonies. The government sent tens of thousands of convicts to the Americas as indentured servants and established the colony of Australia as a prison colony at the end of the century.

	More from Encarta
	•  Presidential Myths Quiz •  Coffee break: Recharge your brain