Outlander - The Battle of Culodden, explained

Two conflicts with resulting laws

It all started with James VII, or as the English people say: James II. As many feared his exclusion would lead to a repetition of the 1638–51 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, James became a catholic King who reigned over Scotland, Ireland, and England from 1685-88. Back then, Scotland and England were both independent kingdoms but were reigned by one monarch.

During his reign, aconflict between Catholics and Protestants took place. Protestants lived in thefear that the Pope would make Great Britain catholic again, which would pushthem out of higher offices. However, the suspicion was reasonable because King Jamesassigned high offices to Catholics, and the Protestant elite felt threatened bythat.
The second coexistent conflict was between the monarch and the parliament: Bothparties argued about who was allowed to collect which taxes or what civilrights were in force, just to name a few examples here.

Both conflicts gained momentum over time, resulting in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. As a consequence of this event, James VII got replaced by his Protestant daughter Mary and was then forced into exile in France, where he died in 1701.

In the same year, the Act of Settlement was enforced, determining that the monarch has to be Protestant. It was implemented because Queen Anne had no surviving heirs, which prevented James Francis Edward Stuart, who was Catholic, from inheriting the throne. With that, the House of Stuart and their reign got replaced by the House of Hanover.

With another law, the Act of Union in 1707, Scotland and England were merged into one big Kingdom. Many Scots were against this act and joined the Jacobites to fight for their independence from England. A significant movement was created, aiming to regain Scottish independence, revise the Act of Settlement, and the Stuarts' restoration to the British throne.