Union, Act

Union, Act of

(May 1, 1707) Treaty that effected the union of England (and Wales) and Scotland under the name of Great Britain. The union benefited England's need for political safeguards against a possible Jacobite restoration through Scotland, and it gave Scotland economic security by freedom of trade with England. Under the treaty, initiated by Queen Anne, the two kingdoms adopted the Protestant succession, preserved Scots law and the law courts, and agreed to uniform taxation.

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Union, Act of

(Jan. 1, 1801) Legislative agreement uniting Great Britain and Ireland under the name of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. After the unsuccessful Irish revolt of 1798, the British prime minister, William Pitt the Younger, decided that the best solution to the Irish problem was a union to strengthen the connection between the two countries. The Irish parliament resisted the proposal, which called for its abolition, but votes bought by cash or honours ensured passage of the agreement in 1800. The union remained until the recognition of the Irish Free State (excluding six of the counties of the northern province of Ulster) by the Anglo-Irish treaty concluded on Dec. 6, 1921; the union officially ended on Jan. 15, 1922.