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Essay on The Glorious Revolution's dramatic effect upon
The British Empire
When James attempted to introduce religious toleration to his kingdoms, Protestants widely perceived this as the first step towards the re-imposition of Catholicism on England. William of Orange — simultaneously the Dutch Stadt holder, the son-in-law of James, and a Protestant — intervened in England. Facing sympathetic rebellions throughout England, James fled for France with barely a shot fired. While primarily an English event, this "Glorious Revolution" shaped Scottish history for the next several decades.
Most Scots acquiesced in the new Royal family, but many Highland Scots remained sympathetic to the Scottish-descended Stuarts. The Highlands rapidly developed into the primary hotbed of Jacobinism, and the Jacobite Risings, a series of attempts to restore the Stuarts to the throne, soon followed. The Highland Jacobites defeated William's forces at the Battle of Killiecrankie in 1689, but the Rising's leader (and main driving force) Bonnie Dundee died in the fighting and shortly afterwards the Highlanders suffered a defeat at the Battle of Dunkeld. The War of the Grand Alliance (1688 - 1697) had already pitted William against France, and King Louis XIV of France gave support to the Stuarts in the war in Ireland which effectively became a simultaneous Jacobite Rising, but their defeat at the Battle of the Boyne led to victory for William. In Scotland Jacobite forces suffered a heavy defeat at the Haughs of Cromdale, then news of the Battle of the Boyne extinguished their hopes of overthrowing the usurper William.
The Scots went through a difficult period economically late in the 17th century. The bad harvests of the seven ill years in the 1690s led to severe famine; English protectionism kept Scots traders out of the new colonies; and English foreign policy disrupted trade with Scotland's former main trading partner, France. As a result many Scots emigrated to Ulster (the Ulster-Scots). Some of these later settled in North America and became known there as Scotch-Irish......
