Scotland - A Nation Divided

This series of events led to the second civil war, in which the Scottish Presbyterians invaded England in the name of the king. They were defeated by an army led by Oliver Cromwell. Charles I was tried and executed in 1649 (Parliament UK).
             With Cromwell now in power, he declared England a free state and Commonwealth, which Scotland and Ireland eventually joined, resulting in the English Parliament finally representing all of the British Isles in 1654. 30 Scottish representatives were in Parliament at this time (Parliament UK). In 1660, Charles II was proclaimed the monarch of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1685, he was succeeded by James II, his brother. James was a Catholic who desired toleration for his fellow Catholics and wished to make the Catholic Church the official church. As a result of his attempts to establish this absolute Catholic monarchy, he lost favor with the people and his authority diminished. In 1699, Prince William of Orange invaded, James escaped to France, and William was made king (Parliament UK). After William III's rise to the throne, a union between Scotland and England was proposed once more, this time by Parliament. The Scottish nobility supported this idea, largely because of the poor state of their economy. William backed a bill supporting the union in 1700, but the bill did not pass in Parliament, and this only served to increase the anti-English attitude of the Scots. In 1702, William III was succeeded by Princess Anne. Yet again union talks took place, and this time an incorporating parliamentary union was agreed upon. Scotland was expected to pay taxes but was not given access to colonial trade (Parliament UK).
             Meanwhile, the English began to put pressure on the Scots to help fund their war with France. The Scots, unhappy with England's unwillingness to compromise on the issue of colonial trade, refused to help. They passed an Act of Security which stated that Queen Anne's successor would not be a joint monarch of England and Scotland unless they were granted unrestricted access to the colonial trade.