July 2, 1800

The Acts of Union are passed in the English parliament on this day in 1800, in an effort to unite the Kingdom of Ireland and the Kingdom of Great Britain under the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Drawn up in response to the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and the French Revolution of 1789, England felt the acts were necessary ways to subdue a Catholic Emancipation. Both the English and Irish parliament needed to pass these acts, and although there was some opposition in the Irish parliament, the Irish passed the Acts on August 1 of that same year.