The following paragraph by Dr. Samuel Johnson describes succinctly how the 1746 Act of Proscription affected the breakup of the Scottish Highland clans. This new law was a response to the 1745 Jacobite uprising, and was intended precisely to disrupt and quell traditional Scottish feudal society.

“The [landed] Chiefs, divested of their prerogatives, necessarily turned their thoughts to the improvement of their revenues, and expect more rent, as they have less homage. The tenant, who is far from perceiving that his condition is made better in the same proportion, as that of his landlord is made worse, does not immediately see why his industry is to be taxed more heavily than before. He refuses to pay the demand, and is ejected; the ground is then let to a stranger, who perhaps brings a larger stock, but who, taking the land at its full price, treats with the Laird upon equal terms, and considers him not as a Chief, but as a trafficker in land. Thus the estate perhaps is improved, but the clan is broken.”