Editing Kingdom of Great Britain (section)

=== Merging of Scottish and English Parliaments ===
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[[File:Queen Anne.jpg|thumb|180px|[[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]], who reigned from 1702 to 1714]]</div>
The deeper political integration of her kingdoms was a key policy of [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]], the last Stuart monarch of England and Scotland and the first monarch of Great Britain. A [[Treaty of Union]] was agreed in 1706, following negotiations between representatives of the parliaments of England and Scotland, and each parliament then passed separate Acts of Union to ratify it. The Acts came into effect on 1 May 1707, uniting the separate Parliaments and uniting the two kingdoms into a kingdom called Great Britain. Anne became the first monarch to occupy the unified British throne, and in line with Article 22 of the [[Treaty of Union]] Scotland and England each sent members to the new [[House of Commons of Great Britain]].<ref>[http://www.scotshistoryonline.co.uk/union.html The Treaty or Act of the Union] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190527074630/http://www.scotshistoryonline.co.uk/union.html |date=27 May 2019 }} scotshistoryonline.co.uk, accessed 2 November 2008</ref>{{Sfn|Williams|1962|pages=271–287}} The Scottish and English [[ruling class]]es retained power, and each country kept its legal and educational systems, as well as its established Church. United, they formed a larger economy, and the Scots began to provide soldiers and colonial officials to the new British forces and Empire.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Allan |first=David |title=Scotland in the Eighteenth Century: Union and Enlightenment |date=2001 |publisher=Longman |isbn=978-0-582-38247-3}}</ref> However, one notable difference at the outset was that the new Scottish members of parliament and representative peers were elected by the outgoing Parliament of Scotland, while all existing members of the Houses of Commons and Lords at Westminster remained in office.