Scottish Emigration to Colonial America, 1607-1785

Chapter One: The Emigrant Tradition (1607–60)

CHAPTER ONE The Emigrant Tradition (1607—60) Scotland is unique in Western Europe in experiencing a net population growth rate roughly at replacement level. This results not from a low birth rate or a high death rate but from a relatively high level of emigration—south to England or overseas, especially to North America and Australasia, The causes of this phenomenon are complex and have their historic roots in early modern Scotland. Although Scottish emigration is a well-established demographic feature, it is only in the last two hundred yearsor so that the level of emigration has been significant. The continentof Europe has for centuries attracted Scots scholars, merchants, soldiers, and political and religious refugees, as well as a number of wanderers, many of whom chose to settle permanently. By 1650 Scots were settled from the Gulf of Bothnia to the Bayof Biscay. Prior to the Union of the Crowns in 1603 there had been a reluctance on the part of the Scots to consider England as a place to settle despite its close proximity. It is impossible to estimate the number of Scots who settled in England before 1603; it is, however,possible to establish how many Scots became naturalized Englishmen. Between 1509 and 1603 only 272 Scots received Letters of Denization or Acts of Naturalisation in England despite the very great advantages that would accrue, such as the right to own land, inherit land, confer rights on children, and be exempt from taxes imposed on aliens. An indication of how relatively few this was is indicated by the fact that in the single year 1544, 993 Normans and 169 Bretons became naturalized Englishmen.' io The Emigrant Tradition The settlement of individuals or small groups in European countries must be clearly distinguished from the limited formal attempts at colonization engaged in by the Scots prior to 1650. Within Scotland itself there had been consciousefforts to establish colonies of Lowlanders within the Celtic and Nordic peripheryas a means of consolidating the Kingdom of Scotland. During the fifteenth century, before Orkney and Shetland were transferred to the king of Scotland by the king of Norway and Denmark, the earl of Orkney, a Scot, although bound byduty to the king of Norway, actively encouraged Scottish immigration by appointing Scots to positions of influence on these islands. In the dosing years of the sixteenth century, James VI devised a scheme aimed at settling Lowland Scots communities at key points within the Highlands and islands: "The Kingis Majestic haveing to be advise of the Thrie Estaitis conveoit in the lait Parliament haldin in Edinburgh upon the fi6th] day of [December] last bipast, fownd it meit and expedient, baith for the reducrioun of the illis to his Hienes obedience , establisching of justice and quietnes, and furthsetting of his Hienes commoditie and prorTek within the samyn, that certane tounis sould be erectit and sett doun in Kintyre, Lochabir and the Lewis, upoun commodious pairtis maist proper for the saidis effectis. At Holyroodhouse, 4 May1598."z Three sites were selected in the Highlands and islands on economic and strategic grounds. These were locations from which the king's men could ensure that royal policy was being followed and the law of the land enforced. By forming colonies of Englishspeaking Lowland Protestants in selected spots they were dividing the Gaelic-speaking Highlanders from each other and from their cousins in Ireland. The newly planted burghs could act as engines of growth in their areas, generating economic and social development . This project wasnot to achieve its aims to any great extent. An example of what occurred was the case of the Lewis Plantation . In the early sixteenth century, James V had attempted to encourage the growth and development of fishing in the Western Isles but had been frustrated by the actions of the residents of Lewis, who molested the fishermen and drove them away.5 In 1576 Rory MacLeod of Lewis gave an undertaking to the Privy Council The Emigrant Tradition u in Edinburgh that his people would refrain from molesting the Lowland fishermen. The inhabitants of Lewis were regarded in Edinburgh as "professit and avowed enemies to all His Majesties guid subjects, and to all strangers quha aither in their lawful trade of fishing or be contarious winds are set upon their coist swa that by reason of their barbaritie, the trade of fishing these pairts is neglected and oursein."4 James VI's decision to...