For freedom alone
The Declaration of Arbroath, sealed on 6 April 1320, is the most important document in Scottish history. Written in Latin and addressed to Pope John XXII, it was a letter from the Scottish nobles asserting Scotland's independence and its right to defend itself against English aggression.
The declaration was political. Robert the Bruce had been excommunicated for murdering John Comyn, and Scotland was under papal interdict. The Scottish nobles needed the Pope's recognition. But the language went far beyond diplomatic manoeuvring. The most famous passage reads: "For as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom — for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself."
The declaration also contained a remarkable constitutional principle: if the king himself were to submit Scotland to English rule, the nobles would drive him out and choose a new king. This was an extraordinary statement for 1320 — the idea that a king held his position conditionally, subject to the will of the community of the realm, was centuries ahead of its time.
The American Declaration of Independence (1776) was influenced by the Declaration of Arbroath, and the United States Senate formally recognised this connection in 1998, designating 6 April as National Tartan Day. The original document is held in the National Records of Scotland in Edinburgh. The ruins of Arbroath Abbey, where it was sealed, still stand on the Angus coast — a testament to the medieval vision of Scottish sovereignty that echoes to this day.