The Declaration of Arbroath

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The Declaration of Arbroath

• Scotlands Most Famous Document

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Why is it famous?

• 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. Sealed by
  fifty-one magnates and nobles, the letter is the
  sole survivor of three created at the time.

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• The Declaration made a number of points
• That Scotland had always been independent, indeed
  for longer than England
• That Edward I of England had unjustly attacked
  Scotland
• That Robert the Bruce had delivered the Scottish
  nation from this peril
• And, most controversially, that the independence
  of Scotland was for the Scots people, rather than
  the King of Scots.
• In fact it stated that the nobility would choose
  someone else to be king if the current one did
  anything to threaten Scotland's independence.

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The Declaration of Arbroath
For as long as but a hundred of us remain
alive, never will we on any conditions be brought
under English rule. It is not for glory, nor
riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for
freedom for that alone, which no honest man
gives up but with life itself
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Radical Views!

• Yet if he (Bruce) should give up what he has
  begun, and agree to make us or our kingdom
  subject to the King of England or the English, we
  should exert ourselves at once to drive him out
  as our enemy .

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Think

• Can you think of any other country that has a
  document similar to the Declaration of Arbroath?

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The USA

• Declaration of Independence
• We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
  men are created equal, that they are endowed by
  their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
  that among these are Life, Liberty, and the
  pursuit of Happiness.
• That to secure these rights, Governments are
  instituted among Men, deriving their just powers
  from the consent of the governed.
• That whenever any Form of Government becomes
  destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the
  People to alter or to abolish it.

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Influence

• The radical ideas of the Declaration has made it
  famous both in Scotland and internationally, and
  it has been suggested that it had some influence
  on the drafters of the United States Declaration
  of Independence.

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The People are Sovereign

• The document subsequently played an influential
  role in the history of Scottish national identity
  and the creation of the common belief that in
  Scotland it is the 'people' that are sovereign,
  rather than the monarch or parliament, as in
  England.

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Task

• In pairs write your own declaration.
• In it say why Scotland should be independent and
  the reasons why you think this.
• Remember and include it is for the people that
  Scotland should be governed, not for Kings!