Acts of Union

The Acts of Union 1800 were pivotal legislative agreements that facilitated the union of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland, leading to the formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on January 1, 1801. This legislation aimed to create a consolidated British Parliament, essentially abolishing the separate Irish Parliament, a response partially due to the 1798 Irish Rebellion. The Union was contentious in Ireland, particularly among Catholics, as promises for Catholic Emancipation-allowing Catholics to sit in the newly formed Parliament-were not immediately fulfilled. The political landscape of the British Isles was fundamentally reshaped by this union, which remained in place until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922, leaving Northern Ireland as the only part of the island in the United Kingdom.