Don't worry about it, folks, anytime in the 1700's was a good time to leave Scotland, clearances or not. There was a war in 1715 and building up to war in 1745. Wars don't come out of nothing, so it's safe to say there were tons of political and social issues that prevailed on the Scots.
Yes, some was caused by the English, some was caused by the Scots.

The rest will get into more history than this thread needs. Time to read some books.

And that's all I'll say on that. Why would I want to steal Riverkilt's joy?