In my earlier article for Bylines Scotland, ‘The cost of dependence’, I claimed that the union was basically a trade deal. This article examines that statement and looks at how the 1707 Acts of Union were presented as a mutual economic arrangement but concealed profound power imbalances between Scotland and England.
The union promised relief from crippling trade restrictions. Yet, it was forged under duress, with England wielding economic weapons to force compliance. Today, we probe deeper into those mechanisms: the English Navigation Acts of the 1650s–1660s and the brazen 1705 Aliens Act.
These policies, enacted long after the 1603 Union of the Crowns, reveal a pattern of deliberate economic coercion that deepened Scotland’s late-17th-century famines and poverty, constrained its celebrated university sector, and ultimately stifled broader intellectual horizons.
The removal of these barriers post-Union sparked the Scottish Enlightenment, demonstrating how economic liberation can unleash extraordinary innovation.
This history holds urgent lessons for contemporary Scotland: independence could shatter the grip of neoliberal ideology, allowing the nation to build a chartalist-inspired wellbeing economy that places people, equality, and sustainability at its core.
The Union of Crowns: Shared monarch, divided economies
The 1603 Union of the Crowns united the thrones under James VI and I, promising harmony but delivered little economic integration. Scotland retained its parliament and institutions, yet England treated it as a foreign competitor in trade.
The Navigation Acts (1651, 1660, 1663) embodied this exclusion. They reserved colonial trade (enumerated goods like tobacco, sugar, and indigo) for English ships and ports. Scotland, despite the shared crown, was barred from direct participation. Exports such as linen, coal, and cattle faced tariffs or bans in English markets and colonies.
The impact was cumulative. Scotland’s agrarian economy stagnated as it was unable to access imperial wealth. Trade shifted to disrupted European routes, with smuggling offering only limited relief. The acts enforced dependency, widening the economic gap and fostering resentment.
The Ill Years: Famine, poverty, and desperation
These restrictions peaked during the ‘Ill Years’ of the 1690s. Poor harvests, worsened by the Little Ice Age, triggered famine. Up to 15% of the population perished from starvation and disease, with mass emigration following.
The Navigation Acts intensified the crisis by blocking colonial diversification and affordable imports. The Darien Scheme (1698–1700), an attempt to bypass English barriers via a Panama colony, failed catastrophically, draining a quarter of Scotland’s capital and costing thousands of lives. The disaster deepened poverty and eroded confidence in institutions.
England’s mercantilist policies appeared as instruments of hegemony, treating Scots as outsiders over a century after the crowns united.
The Aliens Act 1705: Overt coercion
The Aliens Act of 1705 marked the peak of coercion. It declared Scots “aliens” in England unless union talks began by Christmas 1705, banning key exports (cattle, linen, coal) and arms shipments to Scotland.
This was economic blackmail, exploiting post-Darien vulnerability and famine aftermath. Over a century after the Union of the Crowns, it exposed the fragility of shared sovereignty: England controlled trade policy via its parliament. The act transformed Navigation Act barriers into active sanctions.
Scottish elites faced ruin or integration. Promises of market access and Darien compensation proved decisive. Riots erupted in Edinburgh during treaty debates, yet destitution left a perception of no real alternative. Where have we heard that before?
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Constraining Scotland’s intellectual beacon
The coercive policies damaged Scotland’s renowned university sector. By the late 17th century, Scotland had five universities (St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen’s two colleges, and Edinburgh) outnumbering England’s mere two. Rooted in Reformation ideals, they promoted broad education, high literacy (bolstered by the 1696 parish school act), and accessibility.
Economic isolation imposed unwanted constraints. Patronage shrank as trade barriers limited wealth. Universities relied on kirk tithes and modest fees, struggling with low salaries and outdated facilities. Colonial knowledge (botany, ethnography, navigation) arrived indirectly or expensively via English routes.
European networks sustained some flow (e.g. Leiden University, near Rotterdam for medicine and law), but direct New World engagement was restricted. Famines disrupted enrolment and funding. Scotland’s universities remained resilient, yet potential was capped. Coercion fostered provincialism, channelling energies inward.
The paradoxical liberation: Post-Union Enlightenment surge
The 1707 Union dismantled these barriers. Scotland gained imperial trade access, sparking growth. Glasgow became a tobacco hub, agriculture was modernised, and wealth flowed in. Universities expanded with new chairs, libraries, and salons funded by colonial revenues.
Freed from sanctions, Scottish academics innovated boldly. The Enlightenment (1730 -1800) produced Hume’s empiricism, Smith’s economics, Watt’s engineering. Thinkers blended European roots with global data, creating ‘creative tension’ between preserved institutions and newfound freedom. Economic liberation unleashed genius.
Echoes in the present: Breaking neoliberal chains through independence
Today’s Scotland faces parallel constraints within the UK. Neoliberal ideology –privatisation, austerity, and deregulation – has widened inequalities and limited autonomy. Indeed it echoes 17th century dependency. Brexit and Westminster policies expose vulnerabilities akin to the Aliens Act.
Independence offers liberation. Embracing chartalism – a school of economic thought that recognises how sovereign currency issuance supports public priorities – Scotland could build a wellbeing economy prioritising health, equality, sustainability, and community over GDP.
A key arena is the university sector, where neoliberalism has reductive effects on research and development. Market-driven reforms tie funding to performance metrics, student fees, and economic impact, narrowing agendas toward commercially viable projects over curiosity-driven or socially oriented work.
Audit cultures quantify outputs, eroding academic freedom and favouring short-term grants over long-term innovation. The emphasis on material values undermines universities’ civic role, constraining their ability to tackle inequality or climate change.
Independence could reverse this
Chartalist economic policy would prioritise public investment, freeing R&D from market dictates. This would echo the Enlightenment’s liberation: unencumbered academics innovating for societal good. Scotland could model a ‘people’s economy’ to the West (consensus-driven, egalitarian, ecologically mindful) countering neoliberal dominance.
As Mark Carney said, in his speech at Davos this week, “…but more recently great powers have begun using economic integration as weapons, tariffs as leverage, financial infrastructure as coercion, supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited. You cannot live within the lie of mutual benefit through integration, when integration becomes the source of your subordination.”
This article aims to show that these economic weapons have been utilised for centuries. Just as lifting 17th-century sanctions ignited the Enlightenment, sovereignty today could unleash Scotland’s potential. The nation that once birthed world-changing ideas under duress could now demonstrate a freer, fairer path forward.
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