The Scottish Covenant was a petition to the United Kingdom government to create a home rule Scottish parliament. First proposed in 1930,[1] and promoted by the Scots Independent in 1939, the National Covenant movement reached its peak during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Initiated by John MacCormick, the Covenant was written in October 1949 at the Church of Scotland Assembly Halls in Edinburgh, during the Third National Assembly of the Scottish Convention, a pressure group which evolved into the Scottish Covenant Association.
The petition was "eventually signed by two million people".[2] In the census of 1951, the population of Scotland was 5.1 million.[3]
The Scottish Covenant, however, had little political impact, and it was not until 1977 that proposals for a Scottish Assembly became a serious political prospect.[2] The current Scottish Parliament was convened in 1999.
The name of the Covenant is a reference to the Solemn League and Covenant which established the rights of the Church of Scotland in the 17th century. An Ulster Covenant was also made in 1912, opposing the idea of home rule in Ireland.
- ^ Brand, Jack (1978). The National Movement in Scotland. Routledge. p. 330. ISBN 978-0-7100-8866-6. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
- ^ a b "Devolution's swings and roundabouts". BBC News. 1999-04-07. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
- ^ "Vision of Britain | 1951 Census: Preliminary Report |". Archived from the original on 2012-10-26.
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