The Declaration of Arbroath

Scotland’s Most Famous Document

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.

• 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.

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”

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 .

Think …• Can you think of any other country

that has a document similar to the Declaration of Arbroath?

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.

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.

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.

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!