As Americans celebrate Independence Day, many Scots are plotting their own independence. In September Scotland will hold a referendum on whether to become an independent country or remain in the United Kingdom. Last week, on the 700th anniversary of the battle of Bannockburn, dramatic reenactments portrayed Robert the Bruce’s victory over England’s Edward II. Bannockburn secured Scotland’s independence, but it didn’t last. Three hundred years later James VI of Scotland became James I of England, and the two kingdoms came under one monarch. Scarcely a hundred years after that an act of union made Scotland one with England and Wales to form Great Britain. It is this union that Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond of the Scottish National Party, would like to break, hoping to ride the spirit of Bannockburn to referendum victory.