Department Chair
Andrew D. Nicholls, Ph.D., Professor of History
Date of Award
5-2017
Access Control
Open Access
Degree Name
History, M.A.
Department
History and Social Studies Education Department
Advisor
Dr. David Carson
Department Home page
http://history.buffalostate.edu/
First Reader
Dr. Andrew Nicholls
Second Reader
Dr. David Carson
Abstract
As a result of the Hanoverian victory at the Battle of Culloden, the Scottish Highlands changed forever. Parliament passed new legislation outlawing key elements of traditional Highland culture. Highland landlords would implement new economic schemes to convert subsistence farming into commercial agriculture. With the economic changes in leases, land management and rent, the Highland social structure would be reorganized. One particular strata of the class structure, the tacksmen, would find their traditional cultural role as a military leader and economic role as an estate manager stripped from them, resulting in a reduced role in Highland society. This thesis will explain the multiple cultural, social and economic factors that lead to mass emigration from the Highlands. It endeavors to link theses massive changes occurring in the Highlands to emigration, specifically the emigration of the tacksmen class.
Recommended Citation
Pryor, Beth, "Scottish Emigration to British North America 1770-1783: The First Phase of Scottish Highland Diaspora" (2017). History Theses. 42.
https://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/history_theses/42
