Act of Union

I

Introduction

Act of Union, name of several statutes that accomplished the joining of England with Wales (1536), England and Wales with Scotland (1707), Great Britain with Ireland (1800), and the British provinces of Upper Canada and Lower Canada (1840) in North America.

II

Act of Union of 1536

The Act of Union passed in 1536, during the reign of King Henry VIII, the second English monarch descended from the Welsh House of Tudor. The Act formally united England and Wales. By its terms, the Welsh Marches, estates held for centuries by semi-independent Marcher lords, became several new counties or were added to older counties. Counties and boroughs in Wales were granted representation in the English Parliament.

III

Act of Union of 1707

The Act of Union passed in 1707 by the parliaments of England and Scotland created the Kingdom of Great Britain. Although Scotland retained its judicial system and its Presbyterian church, its parliament was joined with that of England. Henceforth, Scotland sent 45 elected members to the British House of Commons and 16 of its peers to the House of Lords. Scots received the same trading rights as the English had in England and its overseas empire. Scotland also received money (called “the Equivalent”) equal to the share it was assuming of England's national debt.

The crowns of the two countries had been united in 1603 when James Stuart (James VI of Scotland) succeeded Elizabeth I as James I of England, but the kingdoms otherwise remained separate. In 1654 the countries were united as a commonwealth under the rule of Oliver Cromwell. When Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660, England and Scotland again became separate. Impetus for union came from disagreements between the two parliaments. These included Scotland's refusal to approve the Act of Settlement (1701) passing the royal succession on to the German House of Hanover after the death of Queen Anne (the last Stuart sovereign), and England's fear that Scotland might seek to restore an exiled Catholic Stuart to the throne.

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IV

Act of Union of 1800

The Act of Union, which was passed in 1800 and went into effect on January 1, 1801, joined the Kingdom of Great Britain and all of Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The merger followed a fierce but unsuccessful rebellion against British rule in Ireland. The Irish legislature was abolished, and the Irish were allowed 32 members in the British House of Lords and 100 members in the House of Commons. The act also provided for the continuation of the Anglican church as the established church in Ireland. The Roman Catholic Irish felt betrayed because they had not acquired the right to hold political office.

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