Tender of Union
TheTender of Unionwas a declaration of theParliament of Englandduring theInterregnumfollowing theWar of the Three Kingdomsstating thatScotlandwould cease to have anindependent parliamentand would joinEnglandin its emergingCommonwealthrepublic.
The English parliament passed the declaration on 28 October 1651 and after a number of interim steps anAct of Unionwas passed on 26 June 1657. The proclamation of the Tender of Union in Scotland on 4 February 1652 regularised thede factoannexation of Scotland by England following the English victory in the recentAnglo-Scottish war.Under the terms of the Tender of Union and the final enactment, the Scottish Parliament was permanently dissolved and Scotland was given 30 seats in the Westminster Parliament.[1]This act like all the others passed during theInterregnumwas repealed by both Scottish and English parliaments upon theRestorationofmonarchyunderCharles II.[2]
Declaration and reaction[edit]
On 28 October 1651 the English Parliament issued theDeclaration of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England, concerning the Settlement of Scotland,in which it was stated that "Scotland shall, and may be incorporated into, and become one Common-wealth with this England". Eight English commissioners were appointed,Oliver St John,SirHenry Vane,Richard Salwey,George Fenwick,John Lambert,Richard Deane,Robert Tichborne,andGeorge Monck,to further the matter. The English parliamentary commissioners travelled to Scotland and atMercat Cross in Edinburghon 4 February 1652, proclaimed that the Tender of Union was in force in Scotland. By 30 April 1652 the representatives of the shires and Royal burgers of Scotland had agreed to the terms which included an oath that Scotland and England be subsumed into one Commonwealth. On 13 April 1652—between the proclamation and the last of the shires to agree to the terms—a bill for anAct for incorporating Scotland into one Commonwealth with Englandwas given a first and a second reading inRump Parliamentbut it failed to return from its committee stage before the Rump was dissolved. A similar act was introduced into theBarebones Parliamentbut it too failed to be enacted before that parliament was dissolved.[3][4]
Approval by the Lord Protector and Parliament[edit]
On 12 April 1654, theOrdinance for uniting Scotland into one Commonwealth with Englandissued by theLord ProtectorOliver Cromwelland proclaimed in Scotland by the military governor of Scotland, GeneralGeorge Monck.The Ordinance did not become an Act of Union until it was approved by theSecond Protectorate Parliamenton 26 June 1657 in an act that enabled several bills.[3][4][5]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^Manganiello, Stephen C.The Concise Encyclopedia of the Revolutions and Wars of England, Scotland and Ireland 1639-1660,Scarecrow Press, 2004,ISBN0-8108-5100-8.pp.9, 10
- ^David Plant,The Settlement of Scotland, 1651-60,The British Civil Wars & Commonwealth website."On 28 March, [1661 the Scottish] Parliament passed an act annulling all legislation passed in Scotland since 1633, the year that Charles I was crowned King of Scots."
- ^abSevaldsen, Jørgen;et al.(2007).Angles on the English-Speaking World, V.7: The State of the Union: Scotland, 1707-2007,Museum Tusculanum Press, 2007ISBN87-635-0702-1,ISBN978-87-635-0702-8.p.39
- ^abOleg Schultz (editor).Scotland and the Commonwealth: 1651-1660Archontology.orgArchived2013-01-12 atarchive.today,Retrieved 2008-12-01
- ^Firth, C.H.; Rait, R.S., eds. (1911). "June 1657: An Act touching several Acts and Ordinances made since the twentieth of April, 1653, and before the third of September, 1654, and other Acts".Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum, 1642-1660 (1911).pp. 1131–1142..
Further reading[edit]
- Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Editionarticle "GREAT REBELLION", section 59. "The Crowning Mercy"
- Staff, Scotland and the Commonwealth: 1651-1660Military Occupation and Early Attempts of Unification,archontology.org