English persecution ~ condoned and encouraged by the King himself, then the Queen. THe first decade of the 18th century was a humdinger. Thoughts of an independent Scotland were smothered ~
Remember that the 1715 and 1745 Jacobite rebellions were NOT supported by the Scots people en masse.
The 1715 rebellion barely started, and was supported only by a minority of Highlanders. And the more famous ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ rebellion of 1745-1746 is probably the most distorted part of Scottish history.
Modern myth has it as a Scots vs English conflict, whereas the truth is completely the opposite.MORE Scots OPPOSED and fought against the Jacobite Highlanders that fought for Charlie.
At Culloden, there were more Scots troops on the Redcoat Govt side than in the Jacobite army (who were themselves partly composed of French and Catholic Irish Jacobites, as well as English and Welsh jacobites) and even then, only HALF the Highland clans supported Charlie!.
In central and lowland Scotland (inc my own region of Ayrshire), there was great hostility to the Jacobites and great support for the Govt forces. In Ayrshire alone, we hung six Jacobites...
So the idea that ‘the English’ smothered Scottish(Jacobite) independence is nonsense. Scotland JOINED the UK in 1707, unlike the conquered Welsh and Irish, and in 1715 and 1745-45, as I have stated, the majority of Scots OPPOSED the Jacobite attempts at rebellion, which btw would have meant them ruling the whole of Britain if they were successful
If you are referring to persecution of Scots in late 17th and early 18th century, then to suggest ‘English’ persecution is also nonsense.
The notorious persecutions of Scots in that time, both Lowland (the Covenanters of the 1670’s and 1680’s) and Highland (such as the McDonalds at Glencoe) were done by fellow Scots first and foremost...
If anything, you are half-right, it was Scottish persecution condoned by the English and encouraged by Kings (James VII/II and William III).Both of whom, btw, were Stuart kings of Scottish descent, James being Anglo-Scots and William being the husband of Queen Mary, another Anglo-Scots monarch.
The only ‘English persecution’ of the Scots between 1603 and 1707 as a nation would be the deliberate attempt to sabotage the Darian scheme, where Scotland famously attempted to set up a colony in Darien, Panama.
Sorry, mate, but I am a Scot who has a knowledge, fascination and passion for his nation’s history, and is a history graduate. I know my Scottish history, and your history is somewhat simplistic and skewed.
I DONT mean that personally, and I would be delighted to discuss Scottish history or any history with you here at FR.