Welcome back! Today we will be discussing a time period in history in a new blogging segment: A Cup of Tea & History! These segments are short explanations of events from the past that have shaped the way society is today. This week’s topic is titled the Scottish Oppression and the Prosperity of Canada’s Modernization. So grab your cup and kick your feet up, and let’s get started!
In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Canada saw an immigrant influx from Scotland compared to previous decades. This immigration to Canada was an effect brought on by the oppression of Highland culture in Scotland. Despite this oppression, there were positive effects brought on by it. In this case, the increasing modernization of Canada, as well as the preservation of Scottish culture in Canada. But questions still remain. Why did the Scots decide on Canada? Why was their immigration so impactful? Why is this important to the grand scheme of human history?
The plan is to answer these questions with proof of the importance of this diaspora by explaining the causes of the Highland oppression seen in Scotland and the effects they had on the Highland landowners and tenants. After that, the answers on why migration towards Canada was beneficial, how their past lives in Scotland helped the Canadian industry become more efficient, and their way of cultural preservation will be explained. By explaining these two parts, people are then able to see the outcomes of adjusting to the new land. In doing so, the goal is for researchers to have a better understanding of the events that took place in 1746 Scotland and how they caused a change in Canadian society in 1868 that is still seen in the present day.
The importance of this diaspora is shown in its causes. In Scotland in 1746, the Jacobite rebellion that involved many Highland clansmen ended, and “reconstruction” had begun in Scotland. During this time, two laws were passed in Scotland. These would soon spur the Highland Clearances, a time known by many where Highlanders were made to leave their homes in search of work and cultural freedoms. The first law that British Parliament put into effect, was the Act of Proscription. Derived from the Latin term “proscriptio”, meaning banishment or outlaw, this act was a combination of rules that would help oppress or banish, any possible Highland rebellions as well as the Highland culture. The Proscription Act was derived from the original Disarming Act of 1716. The Disarming Act was the law placed in order to subdue the Highlanders during the first Jacobite rising in 1715. Its primary focus was to disarm any and all Scotland inhabitants of any possible weapons. Due to the British Parliament arrogantly thinking that the threat of the Disarming Act would put an end to rebellion attacks, the law was not strongly enforced. Because of this lack of enforcement, British Parliament then saw rebellions begin once again in the late 1700s. As a result, the Proscription Act was created with more efficiency and enforcement behind it than its previous counterpart. The public goal behind this act was to, “integrate Gaelic Scotland into the United Kingdom,” when in reality the purpose was to suppress any and all potential threats that Scotland could impose on Britain.
There were other restrictions in this act other than the obvious disarming of the Highland regions. One law was that school teachers, judges, and other upper-class position holders in Scotland had to take oaths of loyalty under the British Crown. In doing so, they had to agree with the ban of clan tartans and help with the incorporation of peace in the highlands. Those living in Scotland were to adhere to the Proscription Act in order to show their loyalty to the British Crown. If one were to reject the law or break it, he or she would be arrested for six months, or be sent to work on the royal plantations overseas if he broke the law again. Examples of breaking the law would be the ownership of a concealed weapon, the use of the Gaelic language or other aspects of highland culture in public, and the denying of loyalty to the Crown. Due to the importance of Scotland to the British trading system, the Crown did not want to lose Scotland by making them an official enemy of Great Britain. Instead, the Crown showed a kind of generosity towards Scotland after the many rebellions they were associated with in the past and decided to “ground” Scotland per se in order to try to keep the peace between the two islands. By doing this, however, the vitality of highland culture began to decline.
The next legal act was created after the final battle of the 1745 Jacobite Rebellions, the Battle of Culloden. This was the Heritable Jurisdiction Act of 1746. This act stripped all the judicial rights of clan leaders and other Scottish heritors. This meant that the land many highlanders would soon inherit was not allowed to be owned in this manner anymore. By doing this, many highland lairds were reduced to the status of an average landowner in the region if they were planning on keeping their lands. In doing so, they began to lose the biggest source of their income, resulting in debt. J.M. Bumsted said, “One of the central aims of most of the large proprietors in the Highlands by the second half of the eighteenth century was to increase income.”
The first solution to this problem was the raising of rent prices for their tenants. When these tenants were not able to pay the rent due to the increase in poverty in the highlands after the Rebellions, they would leave or would be evicted, causing the landowners to move back to square one. Finally, many landowners then realized the solution to this problem was sheep.
The wool industry was going through a prosperity boom at this time, causing many landowners to turn towards making a profit off of the money brought in by raising sheep instead of tenants’ rents. This was the turning point for Scotland, as it started to change from a more predominantly feudal society to a more modern form of an agrarian society. With the numerous amounts of sheepherders moving into the highlands, wool factories started to grow in the lowlands, thus bringing Scotland into a more industrialized world. Though by raising the rents and clearing the highlander’s farmland for the sheepherders and their flocks, many highlanders were evicted or decided to leave to live somewhere cheaper. This too spurred the cultural suppression of highland Scotland as many landowners were turning towards a more industrial society, leaving the agrarian world behind. By enacting these laws onto the people of Scotland, Great Britain was able to have more stability over Scotland, while also suppressing highland culture in order to put an end to the highland control and future rebellions against the Crown.
Although these laws were meant to stabilize the peace between Great Britain and Scotland, many ordinary people were negatively affected by them. With the higher rents, many highland tenants could not pay them and were soon forced to leave or were evicted. This caused many highlanders to be homeless or to live in poverty. Thus, beginning the search for new homes. Many of these highlanders began to move towards more industrialized cities, such as Glasgow. With the growing numbers of highlanders in cities and sheepherders in the highlands, Scotland started to experience a population congestion problem. Along with the growing number of people moving in and out came the economic problems found in mass production. With everyone trying to pay off their debts through the wool industry, factories started to overproduce wool, which then could not be sold due to so many factories producing wool that nobody wanted or needed to buy. Once this happened, Scotland’s economy went into a recession causing more debt to spread throughout the region. The next problem brought on by these laws pertained to the culture found in Scotland. The traditions and values seen in the highland culture were beginning to disappear. Though the Proscription Act did not blatantly ban the highland tartans and language, it did weaken the importance of those values in Scottish society. By doing this, many of the important skills involved with these traditions were lost. For example, the process of dyeing and weaving tartans for the clans was gradually losing its importance due to the removal of such values. These social and economic problems continued throughout Scotland until the mid-nineteenth century. As a result, many highlanders decided to move out of Scotland in search of work and freedom to continue their traditions.
For centuries, the people of Scotland have been migratory people, giving them the nickname of “a notorious migrating people.”This sense of roaming continued on during the critical times seen in the late eighteenth to mid-nineteenth centuries. Instead of moving to Europe, many Scots decided to go to the Americas in hopes to find economic and social freedom. One of the destinations was Canada. At the time, the United States was still battling its “older brother”, England in the American Revolutionary War and later the War of 1812. Due to the fighting seen in the thirteen colonies, later named the United States of America, Scottish highlanders struggled to choose a side: revolutionaries or loyalists. With these battles going on in the colonies, Canada was the safest option. Besides this issue in the colonies, many Scots decided to travel to Canada for opportunities in the region. One of these reasons was due to the smaller quantity of population found in Canada, unlike the congestion found in Scotland. As McLean states, “In emigrating and settling in Canada, the clansmen found a radical, creative solution to the social and economic losses with which they were threatened.” By using the freedoms seen in Canada to their advantage, many Scots were able to make a life for themselves.
Though the change of pace was welcomed by the Scots, adaptation and settling into the new land was difficult. As immigrants, the Scots that came to Canada had to create new lives and communities. The first thing they needed were jobs to pay for boarding houses or land. Many Scots continued to work in factories as they did during the clearances in Scotland while many others returned to farming. Along with finding work, finding a home was a priority. Many of the Scots had to pay rent to landlords in Canada in order to have a bed to sleep in. With the numerous amounts of Scots living in pockets throughout the Canadian cities, Scottish-influenced communities started to expand as they wound up working together and living together through this period of “settling in.”
After the search for a home and work was done, the adjustment toward the physical world of Canada and culture began to take place. In 1863, Scottish emigrant Alexander MacArthur wrote to his mother on the harshness of the Canadian winters, giving a clear representation of how many Scots felt about the new life change. In his letter, he wrote, “You can be very little of that time out of the house and must always have a fire. And as you cannot have a fire to suit yourself you must take chance of what is suitable to others. Sometimes almost suffocated and again almost starving with cold.” Along with the adjustment to the cold and new scenery, many immigrants had to adjust to the change and evolution of their culture. By now, the Highland cultures seen in Scotland in the past had died down, but many aspects and values were still seen in the ways of life of the immigrants. Areas like Nova Scotia and Ontario became hot spots for those who spoke the Gaelic language. One of the most famous counties that saw this culture spread was Glengarry. Now that many of these Scots were not being hunted down for practicing their traditions, they were able to speak freely in Gaelic along with practicing other traditions like the wearing of the tartans again. By using this freedom to their advantage, the people of Canada were able to see an increase in Scottish culture in the region.
After going through the tough adjustment period, many Scots were able to find complete communities in Canada. Many started to practice their highland practices without fear. Along with this, they adjusted to their jobs and even found more efficient jobs. An example of this would be Alexander MacArthur. From 1861 to 1878, MacArthur hopped from job to job. This was MacArthur’s way of increasing his income by branching out into different jobs. He first started out working at the Bank of Toronto, then moved to Montreal to become a second officer and an accountant for the Hudson Bay Company. He wrote to his brother about the job change, showing us the change of adaptation to goal acquiring. He stated, “My knowledge of business and account will give me an immense advantage over the other officers of the Company, and I think I will not be slow in improving upon that advantage.” By 1868, he was working as a fur trader which caught the attention of the army, allowing him to earn more by selling to them. The next year he went into the lumber business and stayed until 1878 when he became the manager of the Manitoba Investment Association. His journey through these years shows the Scottish determination for succeeding in life and striving to better yourself or your situation that was seen through so many Scottish emigrants.
The determination to better oneself economically was spreading throughout the minds of the Scottish immigrants. With the sense of personal growth came industrial growth to the region. Due to the sparseness of the Canadian industry and economy at the time, industry was not as efficient as it was in congested areas like Great Britain or the United States. Many Scottish emigrants were aware of this and used their former industrial knowledge to their advantage. After being forced in Scotland to move to industrial cities for work, many Scots were well educated in keeping factories running smoothly. By using this knowledge, many Scots were able to critique newly invented machines and items invented in the region. These inventions were seen in many areas besides factories. The advancements brought on by the Scots to these new inventions can be seen in fields like science, medicine, and even in education.
One example of these advancements would be James Watt’s critiques of the water pump. His critiques were on Newcomen’s invention of the water pump, which miners used to create steam from coal pits. The issue Watt saw was the steam the machine was creating was not going through and reaching the pits, but instead escaping through the machines due to ill fittings of its parts. After a year, Watt created a more efficient version of the water pump. In the medical field, William Hunter broke the stereotype of females being the only sex to help deliver babies and introduced the idea of men being able to deliver babies as well. Dr. William Cullen introduced lecturing through English rather than Latin into the medical field just as Francis Hutcheson did in philosophy. Though these advancements helped grow the economy seen in Canada, they were not invented by the Scots. Instead, the perfecting of these inventions and machines by the Scots is how the efficiency in the specific fields succeeded. Once these advancements were made, Canada started to see a steady rise in commercialism. With the increase in commercialism, the goal in life was then focused on working efficiently to better the economy. Arthur Herman captures this sentiment by writing, “A new concept had entered the modern consciousness. The idea of power not in a political sense, the ability to command people, but the ability to command nature.” This new change of mindset allowed for Canada’s underdeveloped economy to grow and advance along with the rest of the West. Along with the spread of commercialism and the industrial boom, Scottish culture was beginning to spread like wildfire. With the massive influx of Scots coming into Canada every year, their traditions were also brought into Canada in massive numbers. Along with this, many were working with native Canadians in close proximity, causing the exchange of traditions and cultural values to happen among factory workers, fur traders, and many others.
The Scottish cultures and influences were important to the expansion and growth of Canada. Many regions in Canada still have their Scottish roots present. For example, many of the people from Nova Scotia still speak the Gaelic language and strive to pass it down through the generations. Along with this, many regions hold holidays and events commemorating those influences. These events can be from Tartan Day to clan gatherings, to the highland games. By struggling through the harshness seen in Scotland after the 1745 Rebellion, many Scots were able to find stability overseas in Canada, while also incorporating their traditions back into their lives and also helping the evolvement of a more efficient economy.
The importance of migrations is not just about the spread of specific people into different regions of the world. It is also about the spread of culture, the trading of cultures, the trading and mixing of ideas to better the region that you live in, and the combining of multiple people in seeing the product of doing so. In the time of the industrial revolution, sticking to one type of machine and one system of work would only end in the collapse and failure of the region that decided to stick to the old ways. Change, adapting, and gaining knowledge were the only ways to succeed in an ever-growing and changing world. By gaining a better grasp and understanding more about why different people leave their homelands, we are able to better understand the importance of those migrations to that specific ethnicity of people. For the Scots in this research, the important values that they wanted to find in a region opposite Scotland were freedom of culture and access to decent jobs. Without the understanding of this specific diaspora, we would lose an answer to the questions revolving around the importance of migrations to multiple ethnicities around the world.
The Highland Clearances were important to the history of diasporas and the prosperity of Canada. From the Proscription Act and the Heritable Jurisdiction Act in the United Kingdom, Scotland was in after the Jacobite Rebellions, and the choices needed to be made so that those living under these laws could make somewhat of a living. The effects made by these acts show the reason why many left the country. By emigrating into Canada, many Scots were able to leave a congested land that was once a place they could call home and find a new home and new communities to create for themselves. Because of this choice to find a place full of social freedoms and economic opportunities seen in Canada, the Scots were able to put their hands into the work of industrialization and help improve the economy of Canada. As well as this, the Scots were able to spread their traditional values and culture throughout the region, preserving them in Canadian society. In doing so, the Scots in Canada were able to give us another prime example of why migration is so important. Looking back on the difficult times in Scotland that were brought on by the oppression from the British Parliament, we are able to then see the growth and flourishing of a new society and economy in a different region of the world.
References
Primary :
Kerr, William, National Archives. Internet. Available from http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/jacobite-1745/controlling scotland/
MacArthur, Alexander, 1963 Letter to Mother. National Library of Scotland. Internet. Available from https://digital.nls.uk/emigration/communities/alexander-macarthur/extracts.html; accessed March 16, 2019.
MacArthur, Alexander, 1964 Letter to Brother. National Library of Scotland. Internet. Available from https://digital.nls.uk/emigration/communities/alexander-macarthur/letter-1864.html; accessed March 16, 2019.
Makenzie, Alexander. The Highland Clearances. Glasgow: P.J. O’Callahan, 1914.
The Disarming Act, National Archives. Internet Available from http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/jacobite-1745/9128-2/; accessed March 25, 2019.
Secondary
Bumsted, J. M. The People’s Clearance : Highland Emigration to British North America, 1770 1815. University of Manitoba Press, 1982.
Bumsted, J.M. Scottish Emigration tot the Maritimes 1770-1815: A New Look at an Old Theme, Centre for Digital Scholarship Journals. Internet. Available from https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/Acadiensis/article/viewFile/11173/11909; accessed March 16, 2019.
Campey, Lucille H. The Scottish Pioneers of Upper Canada, 1784-1855 : Glengarry and Beyond. Dundurn Press, 2005.
Devine, T.M. To the Ends of the Earth: Scotland’s Global Diaspora, 1750-2010. Washington,
DC: Smithsonian Books, 2011.
Gourividis, Laurence. The Dynamics of Heritage : History, Memory and the Highland Clearances. Routledge, 2010.
Harper, Marjory. Crossing Borders: Scottish Emigration to Canada, History in Focus. Internet. Available from https://www.history.ac.uk/ihr/Focus/Migration/articles/harper.html; accessed March 16, 2019.
Herman, Arthur. How the Scots Invented the Modern World. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2001.
McLean, Marianne. The People of Glengarry: Highlanders in Transition, 1745-1820. Canada: Toronto Press, 1993.
Ray, R.Celeste, and James Hunter. Transatlantic Scots. University Alabama Press, 2005.
Richards, Eric. A history of the Highland clearances : Agrarian transformation and the evictions 1746-1886. London: Croom Helm, 1982.
The Act of Proscription, Scottish Tartans Authority. Internet. Available from http://www.tartansauthority.com/tartan/the-growth-of-tartan/the-act-of-proscription 1747/; accessed March 25, 2019.
Interested in hearing about other events from history and their effect on our present? Comment below, until next time!
THE CAFFEINATED HISTORIAN 