The Darien Scheme And Its Impact On Scotland's History

Throughout Scotland’s vast history, there have been many important events that have had an enormous impact of Scotland, and shaped it into what it is today. Just one of these many important events that is very significant is the Darien Scheme. Although the Darien Scheme ended up being unsuccessful, it still had a very important impact on Scotland’s history.

When discussing the Darien Scheme, it is important to note the events and what Scotland was enduring in the years that lead to the Darien Scheme. In 1603, James the VI of Scotland succeeded Elizabeth I of England. England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland were joined together by a composite monarchy in 1603 by the Union of the Crowns. This means that they all had separate legal, political, religious,

The failure of the Darien Scheme played a large role in the development of the Union of 1707, which is still what stands to this day. The Darien Scheme reinforced the inefficiency of a ‘composite monarchy’, and showed that the Union of 1603 was not enough to fix Scotland’s economic problems. A union of Scotland and England has been attempted times before, but it was always met with hostility. A more complete Union became an actual possibility in 1702, when Queen Anne I succeeded King William of Orange. Although she viewed the Scots as a strange people, she sincerely supported a closer Union. It is important to note, however, that England supported a closer Union to Scotland for security reasons. They feared a furious Scotland could form alliances with Spain or France, which would make invasion of England much easier. Between 1700 and 1707 there was a lot of political quarreling and negotiation regarding the Union. The succession was a big topic regarding the Union. Queen Anne had had seventeen pregnancies, however none of her heirs survived passed infancy, meaning it was very possible she would die childless. That possibility meant that it was very imperative to secure who would succeed Queen Anne. However, both Scotland and England wanted to decide who would succeed Queen Anne. In 1701 the English Parliament passed the Act of Succession, which stated that both Scotland and England would be passed to the protestant line to Sophia of Hanover, if Queen Anne died childless. However, Scotland was not very happy with that, and they retorted by passing the Act of Security in 1704. This stated that Scotland could choose a different heir than England, which threatened the safety of the Union. England, then countered that that by passing the Alien Act of 1705, which stated that if a compromise about the succession was not reached by December 25, 1705, a trade embargo would be placed on all Scottish