act of union

Act of Union 1800

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The Act of Union 1800 also referred to as the Act of Union 1801, merged the Kingdom of Ireland and the unified Kingdom of Great Britain, (being itself a merger of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland under the Act of Union 1707), to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is important to note that although the act itself was passed on July 2, 1800, it was not made effective until 1 January 1801, which creates confusion as to the actual date of the merger.

Prior to this act Ireland had been in personal union with England since 1541, when the Protestant Ascendancy dominating Irish Parliament passed the Crown of Ireland Act 1542, proclaiming King Henry VIII of England to be King of Ireland. Both Ireland and England had been in personal union with Scotland since the Union of the Crowns in 1603.

The Act

The Act had to be passed by both the Parliament of Great Britain (39 & 40 Geo. 3 c. 67) and the Parliament of Ireland (40 Geo. 3 c. 38). Contemporary laws excluded all non-Anglicans from membership, an exclusion that meant that over 90% of the Irish population who belonged to other faiths, most notably Roman Catholicism, the religion of the majority, were banned from membership. Catholics were denied the vote until the 1790s, and furthermore were not allowed to become Members of Parliament until Catholic Emancipation in 1829. This Irish Parliament was the central institution in what had become known by the 1780s as the Protestant Ascendancy. It was also responsible for a series of anti-Catholic discriminatory laws known as the Penal Laws. It had been given a large measure of independence by the Constitution of 1782, after centuries of being subordinated to the English (and later, British) Parliament. Thus, many members had guarded its autonomy jealously, including Henry Grattan, and had rejected a previous motion for Union in 1799. However, a concerted campaign by the British government, the uncertainty that followed the Irish Rebellion of 1798, and the fact that the Irish and British parliaments, when creating regency during King George III's "madness", gave the Prince Regent different powers, led Great Britain to decide to merge the two kingdoms and their parliaments. The final passage of the Act in the Irish Parliament was achieved with substantial majorities, achieved in part according to contemporary documents through bribery, namely the awarding of peerages and honours to critics to get their votes.[1] Whereas the first attempt had been defeated in the Irish House of Commons by 109 votes against to 104 for, the second vote in 1800 produced a result of 158 to 115

The Act had eight articles:

· Articles I–IV dealt with the political aspects of the Union which included Ireland having over 100 MPs representing it in the united parliament, meeting in the Palace of Westminster (more than would be proportionate according to population). Ireland gained 100 seats in the House of Commons and 32 seats in the House of Lords: 28 representative peers elected for life, and four clergymen of the (Anglican) Church of Ireland, chosen for each session.

· Article V created a united Protestant Church of England and Ireland.

· Article VI created a customs union in which British duties on some Irish goods would be removed but Irish duties on imports would remain.

· Article VII stated that Ireland would have to contribute two-seventeenths towards the expenditure of the United Kingdom. The figure was a ratio of Irish to British foreign trade.

· Article VIII formalised the legal and judicial aspects of the Union.

Part of the attraction of the Union for many Irish Catholics was the promise of Catholic Emancipation, thereby allowing Roman Catholic MPs (which had not been allowed in the Irish Parliament). However this was blocked by King George III who argued that emancipating Roman Catholics would breach his Coronation Oath; it was delayed until 1829.