Scotland’s made many major contributions to the world and to human happiness.  Here’s a quick snapshot – or you can make your own.

The School Act of 1696.  It might seem distant and arcane, but Scotland’s Parliament really did make history when it passed a law to establish a free public school in each parish.  It not only led to the most literate nation in Europe, but it embodied the idea of education as a way of life for all people – much more than just a means to professional or social advancement.   Now, that’s real ‘lifelong learning’! Could we not learn from this even today?

Encyclopaedia Britannica – first published in Edinburgh in 1768 and intended as a complete summary of all scientific and human knowledge. 

The Scottish Enlightenment – the flowering and bringing together of arts and sciences into the common purpose – the advance of humankind

A compelling vision of a “free society” in the shape of Francis Hutcheson’s moral philosophy, which rings down through the centuries – “action is best, which produces the greatest happiness for the greatest number.”

The draft of the American Declaration of Independence, written by Charles Thomson, an Ulster Scot.

The creation of the American Supreme Court as “the jury of the country” and one of the US’s most democratic of institutions – largely the work of one man, James Wilson, originally from Carskerdy.

The lad o’ pairts, exemplified by James Watt, the self-taught man who single-handedly powered the Industrial Revolution.

And the best is still to come…