Special Relationship

Arbroath could be said to have a special relationship with the United States of America dating back almost seven centuries.

April 6th 1320 was when the Scottish Declaration of Independence was signed in the presence of King Robert the Bruce in Arbroath Abbey. It is regarded as the first time the concept of a nation was defined in writing. Years later, the document was to inform the content and wording of the American Declaration of Independence. This came about because when Thomas Jefferson, the future president of the United States and co-author of the American Declaration, attended the William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia, his tutor was the college principal William Small, who was born in Arbroath. Jefferson later credited Small with fixing “the destinies of my life”.

In relatively more recent times, Arbroath was the birthplace of Thomas Moonlight who ran away to America and became a Civil War hero fighting for the Union and who at one time commanded Fort Laramie. Later he moved into politics and, as adjutant general of Kansas, came into contact with names from the “wild west” like Doc Holiday, Wyatt Earp and the Sundance Kid. He was appointed the first Governor of Wyoming before finishing his career as US Ambassador to Bolivia.

A more familiar name in America who also counted Arbroath as his birthplace was David Dunbar Buick. Buick started as a plumber and invented a lawn sprinkler and a way of bonding cast iron with enamel to produce the “white” bath. He developed an interest in the internal combustion engine and went on to found the Buick Motor Company in Detroit, laying the foundations for one of today’s largest motor manufacturers — General Motors. Millions of cars still carry his name to this day and he is commemorated in his hometown with a plaque near the spot he was born.