How important is the Declaration of Arbroath..

[davidlpope]

Yes, I've read this too, but remain somewhat unconvinced, in part, because not all Highlanders were Catholic. Clan Chattan (MacKintosh, MacPherson, MacBean, MacQueen, Farquarson, and some of Davidson, Shaw, MacLean) were Highlanders but are recorded as being Episcopalean (Protestant with bishops, but not Presbyterian or Anglican). I am aware of several branches of the MacBean group who fought in the Revolution, and nearly all on the side of the Patriots. Some were Ulster Scots for sure, meaning that living near Ft.George after the Jacobite rebellions was uncomfortable, so they left for the Plantations (or perhaps there were other reasons, but there are precious few left in Scotland and an abundance of Beans in the USA).

Fair enough, since all generalities at some point fail.

One caveat, not sure if this is your method- using surnames as a proxy for Highlander/ Lowlander/ Ulster Scots identity can be dicey, unless you know the particular history for any individual.

That being said, one comparison I've made is based on the prevalence of Gaelic-derived "Highland" surnames of the roster of Loyalists and the prevalence of non-Highland surnames of the roster "Patriots" at the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge. I'd be a little hesitant to use this a sole proxy, without the contemporary accounts that the Loyalists were wearing kilts, playing bagpipes, giving commands in the Gaelic, etc. that are all indicative of native Highland identity, while none of this was true of the Continentals.

The rosters are available from this publisher:
http://www.loyalistsandpatriots.com/...-0-9626172-2-9
http://www.loyalistsandpatriots.com/...-0-9626172-3-7

Cordially,

David

[MacBean]

Fair enough, both responses. I think everyone would agree that Highlanders did not fight on the Patriot side in organized Highlander groups, but that in some cases, as individuals, they certainly did.

Many thanks for the references by the way. I'm amazed at how much one can read about the Revolution in the South and still find each book new and interesting.

[Foxgun Tom]

"The spirit of the Declaration of Arbroath (6 April 1320) abides today, defiantly resisting any tyranny that would disarm, disperse and despoil proud people of just morals, determined to keep the means of protecting their families and way of life close at hand."

The above is a quote! I copied ages ago I can't remember when or where from?. It may well have been written by one of our American cousins? who-ever it was I'm grateful, its a modern view and sentiment I also share!!

As a native Scot, lucky enough to reside in the land of my birth, I and many others still see "THE DECLARATION OF ARBROATH" as an important historical and unique symbol of our nationhood, it proudly declares that if the sovereign is unable to carry out the duties to the nation and its people, we! the people have the right to remove him (democracy in its infancy and in the making) eg:

"Yet if he 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 and a subverter of his own rights and ours, and make some other man who was well able to defend us our King;"

The other significant section of the delaration that facinates a lot of Scots pertains to our origins? eg:

"Most Holy Father and Lord, we know and from the chronicles and books of the ancients we find that among other famous nations our own, the Scots, has been graced with widespread renown. They journeyed from Greater Scythia by way of the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Pillars of Hercules, and dwelt for a long course of time in Spain among the most savage tribes, but nowhere could they be subdued by any race, however barbarous. Thence they came, twelve hundred years after the people of Israel crossed the Red Sea, to their home in the west where they still live today. The Britons they first drove out, the Picts they utterly destroyed, and, even though very often assailed by the Norwegians, the Danes and the English, they took possession of that home with many victories and untold efforts; and, as the historians of old time bear witness, they have held it free of all bondage ever since. In their kingdom there have reigned one hundred and thirteen kings of their own royal stock, the line unbroken a single foreigner. The high qualities and deserts of these people, were they not otherwise manifest, gain glory enough from this: that the King of kings and Lord of lords, our Lord Jesus Christ, after His Passion and Resurrection, called them, even though settled in the uttermost parts of the earth, almost the first to His most holy faith. Nor would He have them confirmed in that faith by merely anyone but by the first of His Apostles — by calling, though second or third in rank — the most gentle Saint Andrew, the Blessed Peter's brother, and desired him to keep them under his protection as their patron forever."

Tom