Editing Kingdom of Great Britain (section)

==Political structure==
{{Further|Parliament of Great Britain|History of monarchy in the United Kingdom}}
{{Wikisource|Act of Union 1707}}
The kingdoms of England and Scotland, both in existence from the 9th century (with England incorporating Wales in the 16th century), were separate states until 1707. However, they had come into a [[personal union]] in 1603, when James VI of Scotland became king of England under the name of [[James VI and I|James I]]. This [[Union of the Crowns]] under the [[House of Stuart]] meant that the whole of the island of Great Britain was now ruled by a single monarch, who by virtue of holding the English crown also ruled over the [[Kingdom of Ireland]]. Each of the three kingdoms maintained its own parliament and laws. Various smaller islands were in the king's domain, including the [[Isle of Man]] and the [[Channel Islands]].

This disposition changed dramatically when the [[Acts of Union 1707]] came into force, with a single unified [[Monarchy of the United Kingdom#After the 1707 Acts of Union|Crown of Great Britain]] and a single unified parliament.<ref>[[s:Act of Union 1707|Act of Union 1707]], Article 1.</ref> Ireland remained formally separate, with its own parliament, until the [[Acts of Union 1800]] took effect. The Union of 1707 provided for [[Succession to the British throne|a Protestant-only succession]] to the throne in accordance with the English [[Act of Settlement 1701]]; rather than Scotland's [[Act of Security 1704]] (c.3 (S)) and the [[Peace and War Act 1703]] (c. 6) (S)), which ceased to have effect by the [[Repeal of Certain Scotch Acts 1707]]. The Act of Settlement required that the heir to the English throne be a descendant of the [[Electress Sophia of Hanover]] and not a Roman Catholic; this brought about the [[House of Hanover|Hanoverian succession]] of [[George I of Great Britain]] in 1714.

Legislative power was vested in the [[Parliament of Great Britain]], which replaced both the [[Parliament of England]] and the [[Parliament of Scotland]].<ref>[[s:Act of Union 1707|Act of Union 1707]], Article 3.</ref> In practice, it was a continuation of the English parliament, sitting at the same location in Westminster, expanded to include representation from Scotland. As with the former Parliament of England and the modern [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]], the Parliament of Great Britain was formally constituted of three elements: the [[House of Commons of Great Britain|House of Commons]], the [[House of Lords]], and [[the Crown]]. The right of the [[Peerage of England|English peers]] to sit in the House of Lords remained unchanged, while the disproportionately large number of [[Peerage of Scotland|Scottish peers]] were permitted to send only sixteen [[List of Scottish representative peers|Scottish representative peer]]s, elected from amongst their number for the life of each parliament. Similarly, the members of the former English House of Commons continued as members of the British House of Commons, but as a reflection of the relative tax bases of the two countries the number of Scottish representatives was fixed at 45. Newly created peers in the [[Peerage of Great Britain]], and their successors, had the right to sit in the Lords.{{Sfn|Williams|1962|pages=11–43}}

Despite the end of a separate parliament for Scotland, it retained its own laws and system of courts, as also its own established Presbyterian Church and control over its own schools. The social structure was highly hierarchical, and the same ruling class remained in control after 1707.{{Sfn|Williams|1962|pages=271–287}} Scotland continued to have its own universities, and with its intellectual community, especially in Edinburgh, the Scottish Enlightenment had a major impact on British, American, and European thinking.<ref>{{Citation |title=The Cambridge Companion to the Scottish Enlightenment |date=2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |editor-last=Broadie |editor-first=Alexander |isbn=978-1-139-82656-3 |editor-link=Alexander Broadie}}; {{Citation |last=Herman |first=Arthur |title=[[How the Scots Invented the Modern World|How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World & Everything in It]] |date=2001 |publisher=Crown Business |isbn=978-0-609-60635-3 |author-link=Arthur L. Herman}}</ref>