After the death of Queen Elizabeth I of England, her ward, who was James I of England (as well as James the VI of Scotland) united the two kingdoms of Scotland and England under his crown.

James was the son the famous Mary, Queen of Scots whom Elizabeth had beheaded. Mary had been Roman Catholic and Elizabeth had raised James to be an ardent Protestant. He was the same James who was responsible for the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

His animosity toward the Roman Catholics was so severe that Elizabeth had apparently done a heavy-handed job of turning him away from any loyalty toward his mother or her faith. His zeal towards the elimination of the Catholic Faith in Britain brought him to the creation of what was termed the Ulster Plantation in Ireland.

Many Scots, mostly lowland Scots and those without clan affiliations were selected to be moved to Ulster in Northern Ireland. The reason that clan Scots were often not chosen was that they were predominately Roman Catholic and would not have served James' purpose to dilute and eventually destroy Catholicism in Ireland. There were a few clan or Highland Scots chosen, but they were from Protestant clans like the Macleans who were among the earliest clans to convert to Protestantism, and they were therefore trusted by James for his purposes.

It should by now be quite apparent that James was setting us up for what we today call the trouble in Northen Ireland which has lasted for 400 years. These Ulster Scots living in Ireland were forced to live in very socially restricted settlements because of their Protestant faith and, for the same reason they seldom married outsiders. Those Protestant faiths that caused the Ulster Scots to be chosen for transplanting were not the Church of England, and the Ulster Scots soon became victims of yet another wave of religious persecution.

Many immigrated to North America prior to the Revolution, finding homes in what are now Canada and the United States. At the time of our Revolution many Highland Scots who had migrated to the Colonies were loyal to the Crown, but the Ulster Scots seldom were. Most had their bellies quite full of England and their names are amongst many of our greatest Revolutionary heroes.

Samuel Adams, the famous Boston brewer was an Ulster Scot. His rabid hatred of the English probably did more to bring about the Revolution, particularly in the Boston area, than any other single individual.

The backwoods Scots of the Carolinas and Pennsylvania were predominately Ulster Scots and they were always ready for a fight. In many ways the trasplated American Ulster Scots, Scots and Germans (many of whom had also been transplanted to Northern Ireland) had had more than their share of English abuse and were not going to be pushed around any more.

It is to acknowledge and honor these ancestors we American Scots and in particular the Highland Rim Scottish Society celebrate our Scottish Heritage.

The Highland Rim Scottish Society isn't restricted to Scots(although we suspect that most of you reading this have a bit of the "Scottish Heather" in your blood). It celebrates who we are and those from who we came in a very American way. We are a very young country and most of our roots are in the British Isles and western Europe. If we are to have a heritage it must begin there, and for that reason we celebrate ours amoungst the Scots who love of freedom knows no equal amongst the peoples of Western Europe.