Dear friends,
The United States is a nation of immigrants. Even
the Native Americans originally came from Central Asia. But then if we go back
far enough all of us are immigrants. In the UK even people who can trace their
ancestry back centuries are descended from immigrants. Celts came from Central
Europe. Anglo-Saxons and Jutes came from Germany and Denmark. Vikings came from
other parts of Scandinavia. Scots
originally came from Ireland. We are all immigrants.
People in the United States frequently reflect on
where their ancestors came from. Some people call themselves Italian Americans,
others call themselves Irish or Swedish Americans. People maintain this
identity even if their ancestors left these places a long time ago. It’s good
to have roots and it’s perfectly possible to feel two things at once. Someone
can feel, for example, both Scottish and American even if they’ve never been to
Scotland. Why not take pride in a heritage? Why not celebrate where your
ancestors came from?
The United States is defined by two great wars of
independence. In the first you gained independence from Britain. When I read
the history of the American war of independence, my heroes are the Americans.
Thank goodness the Americans won, because they were able to set up the first
real democracy. They were able to show that democracy is system of government
that can work. They created a nation that welcomed people from all over the
world. The world needed the United States in the 20th century. Thank goodness
your ancestors won the war of independence that enabled that country to come into
existence.
The other war of independence was the Civil War. It
is perhaps a little controversial to describe it as such. But that if you think
about is what the Confederacy wanted. They wanted to become independent from
the United States. I don’t want to go into the rights and wrongs of that
conflict too much. But I can say that
I’m mighty glad the United States was preserved as one country. It would have
been a disaster if the Confederacy had won independence. The whole world
throughout the period afterwards needed the United States to continue to exist.
Let us be thankful that it did. I suspect even most people from southern states
today are glad that the Confederacy lost. They may be proud of their ancestors,
but few southerners today regret that they live in one country rather than in a
country that was split.
Did the United States have the right to prevent the
southern states from seceding? This was what the war was about. The South
thought it had the right to leave. The North said it did not. The issue was
decided by war. After that there was no question that a part of the United
States could secede. This is the case with most countries in the world. No-one
today thinks the Maryland could secede from the United States even, if for some
strange reason, the majority in Maryland wished to do so. Likewise no-one
thinks Bavaria could secede from Germany or Sicily could leave Italy. No-one
likewise thinks that the island of Honshu in Japan could choose to leave Japan.
But why not? The reason is that most countries are considered to be
indivisible. This is after all what most children in America say about the
United States. It is one nation and it is indivisible.
States in the United States used to think of
themselves as semi-independent. The reason South Carolina seceded from the
Union in 1861 was because it thought of itself as having the right to secede.
People thought of the United States as a sort of loose federation of
independent states with states’ rights.
The Civil War showed that this view was incorrect. The United States is
one nation, it is not fifty.
Scotland was once independent, but then again so was
each of the original 13 colonies as was Texas. The process of creating the
United States was the process of states subsuming their independence into the
Union. This too is what happened to Scotland, England, Wales and Northern
Ireland. These places ceased to be independent when they became parts of the
United Kingdom. We still describe them as countries or nations, but just as
with the United States there is only one country. It is called the UK.
Last year we had a referendum on independence. This
referendum was very unusual. Very few countries in the world would allow a part
to have the chance to choose to leave. I very much doubt for instance that
Texas would be allowed a vote on secession, because it wanted a Republican
president rather than a Democratic one. Why would Texas not be allowed a
referendum? The answer is that Texas is a part of one nation that is
indivisible. It matters not at all that Texas was independent in 1845.
Scotland ceased to be independent in 1707. It wasn’t
taken over by force and it isn’t a colony. It has been an integral part of a single nation
state for over 300 years. That state, the UK has done some great things. The
world would be a very different place if the UK had not stood alone in 1940
against the Nazis.
Exceptionally Scotland was given a referendum on
independence. Everybody living in Scotland was given the choice to decide this
question once and for all. The result wasn’t close. The Scots who wanted
Scotland to remain an integral part of the UK won the referendum by more than
10%.
Just as people in the United States can be both Italian
and American, so we Scots can be both Scottish and British. There is no contradiction
in this. We can love both Scotland and Britain, just as people in the United
States can, for example, love both Maryland and the United States. Just as most
people in the United States want their country to remain intact so most people
in Scotland want our country the UK to remain intact.
It’s great that so many Scottish Americans remember
where they come from. But it’s also worth remembering that most Scots voted last
year to remain part of the country, the UK, that has a history stretching back
more than 300 years. Of course some Scots disagree, but they lost. Some of them
want to continue fighting this battle until they win. This seems to me to be
like the Confederates continuing to fight after losing the Civil War. The Civil
War decided whether a state had the right to secede. After that the United
States was one nation and indivisible. The same can be said for the UK. We had
a peaceful debate. But it decided the question. The people who are continuing
the fight now are dividing Scotland in a way that is very painful for those of
us living here. Please do not support them as you are supporting people who
lost democratically but still won’t give up.
In the end it amounts to this. If you do not want
your own country to break up, why would you want to break up mine? If an
Italian American would neither want Italy nor the United States to break up why
would he want to break up a country that has existed for longer than either
Italy or the United States? The United
States and the UK have a history of friendship and helping each other. Please
continue to support this friendship by supporting the majority view. The
overwhelming majority of people in the UK want the UK to continue and so do
most people in Scotland. If you consider yourself to be a Scottish American you
should support us too. We need your support and would be very grateful indeed
to receive it.
Best wishes,
Effie Deans
If you like my writing, you can find my books Scarlet on the
Horizon, An Indyref Romance and Lily of St Leonards on Amazon. Please follow
the links on the side. Thanks. I appreciate your support.
