Home > Act of Settlement 1701

This act was, in many ways, the major cause of the union of Scotland and England to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. The Parliament of Scotland was not happy with the Act of Settlement and, in response, passed the Act of Security in 1704, which gave them the right to choose their own Protestant successor to Queen Anne. This would have created a fully independent Scotland rather than the partially independent nation which had resulted from the Union of the Crowns a hundred years before. As a result, the Parliament of England decided that full union of the two Parliaments and nations was essential before Anne's death, and used a combination of exclusionary legislation (the Alien Act of 1705), politics, and bribery to achieve it within three years under the Act of Union 1707. This was in marked contrast to the four attempts at political union between 1606Events January 27 The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators begins ending in their execution on January 31 May 17 Supporters of Vasili Shusky invade the Kremlin and kill pretender Dmitri December 26 Shakespeare's King Lear performed in court Storm bu and 1689Events Louis XIV of France passed the Code Noir " allowing the full use of slaves in the French colonies. January 11 The Parliament of England declares King James II of England deposed. February 13 William III and Mary II are proclaimed co-rulers of Engla, which all failed owing to a lack of political will. By virtue of Article II of the Treaty of Union, which defined the succession to the British Crown, the Act of Settlement became, in effect, part of Scots Law.

Sophia died before Anne, so the result of the Act was the succession of Sophia's son GeorgeGeorge I (George Ludwig von Guelph-d'Este) ( 28 May 1660 11 June 1727) was Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg (Hanover) from 23 January 1698, and King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 1 August 1714, until his death. He was also the Archbannerbearer (afte in preference to many of his cousins.

As a result of the Act of Settlement, several members of the British Royal FamilyThe British Royal Family is a group of people closely related to the British monarch. Although there is no strict legal definition of who is or is not a member of the royal family, and different lists will include different people, those carrying the titl who have converted to Roman Catholicism or married Roman Catholics have been barred from succeeding to the Crown, though since George I no individual has in practice been excluded on the grounds of religion from the throne.

1 See also

• List of British monarchsThis is a list of British monarchs, that is, the monarchs on the thrones of some of the various kingdoms that have existed on, or incorporated, the island of Great Britain, namely: England (united with Wales from 1536) up to 1707; Scotland up to 1707; The
• Line of Succession to the British ThroneThe Line of Succession to the British Throne (and, by extension, the thrones of the fifteen other commonwealth realms) is determined by male primogeniture, whereby the eldest son of the incumbent inherits the throne. The line of succession then follows th
• Succession to the British Throne