After about five years of monitoring Nothing to do with Arbroath, I am delighted to encounter a post there that actually centers on Arbroath.
The Declaration of Arbroath was a declaration of Scottish independence, and set out to confirm Scotland's status as an independent, sovereign state and its use of military action when unjustly attacked. It is in the form of a letter submitted to Pope John XXII, dated 6 April 1320... the document subsequently played an influential role in the history of Scottish national identity and the creation of the common belief (whether based in legal reality or not) that in Scotland it is the 'people' that are sovereign, rather than the monarch or parliament, as in England.Now a book by an American historian, Linda Macdonald-Lewis argues that it was Arbroath's document that set the foundation for subsequent declarations of independence, including that of the United States:
MacDonald-Lewis believes the similarities between the cries of freedom in both documents are a deliberate move by America's founding fathers - half of those who signed the Declaration of Independence were of Scottish ancestry. Robert the Bruce, meanwhile, was the first ruler in Europe to be brought to power by a system recognisable as modern democracy, by "due consent and assent of us all"...Hat tip to "The Slide Guy" for the post's title.
Academics have previously linked America's founding fathers to the Scottish enlightenment that was ongoing during the drafting of the US charter... Thomas Jefferson and other key figures studied the enlightenment's leaders, such as Francis Hutcheson and David Hume, who were making a worldwide impact at a time when, as Voltaire, the French defender of civil liberties, said: "We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilisation."
Addendum: Some excellent clarification re Scots law and English law is presented in the Comments, including a notation that the opening words of the U.S. Constitution were written by a Scot. Hat tip to Michael Follon.
Just for clarification regarding -
ReplyDelete'(whether based in legal reality or not)'
Scottish constitutional law, which has been unavailable since 1707 and has evolved since then, specifies that sovereignty rests with the people whereas English constitutional law states that Parliament is sovereign. The devolved Scottish Parliament was created by an Act of the UK Parliament (following a referendum of the people of Scotland), where English constitutional law applies, is located in Edinburgh where Scottish constitutional law applies. The actions of that Parliament are governed by the combination of Scottish constitutional law and the restrictions placed on it by the UK Parliament.
'If the Scottish people expressed a desire for independence the stage would be set for a direct clash between what is the English doctrine of sovereignty and the Scottish doctrine of the sovereignty of the people.'
SOURCE: 'The Operation of Multi-Layer Democracy', Scottish Affairs Committee Second Report of Session 1997-1998, HC 460-I, 2 December 1998, paragraph 27.
Regarding Scots Law and English Law -
'76 ...Nevertheless the two systems remain separate, and - a unique constitutional phenomenon within a unitary state - stand to this day in the same juridical relationship to one another as they do individually to the system of any foreign country.'
SOURCE: 'Royal Commission on the Constitution, 1969-1973', Volume I, Cmnd. 5460.
The opening words of the Constitution of the United States, 'We The People', were written by Scot James Wilson, one of the delegates from Pennsylvania -
FOOTNOTE: 'Document V in Wilson's handwriting was found among the Wilson Papers. It appears to be the beginning of a draft with an outline of the continuation. Parts in parentheses were crossed out in the original.'
SOURCE: 'The RECORDS of the FEDERAL CONVENTION of 1787', Volume II, edited by Max Farrand, p. 150, ISBN 0-300-00081-2.
Its a shame that our own children today do not study the influential minds and philosophy that brought such documents as the Declaration of Arbroath and the Declaration of Independence to light.
ReplyDeleteLove the site 'http://arbroath.blogspot.com/'
ReplyDeleteNothing to do with Arbroath. Great headline!