In 1817, the Edinburgh and Glasgow Union Canal Company obtained a local act of Parliament, the ' (57 Geo. 3. c. lvi) to start construction. Joseph Priestley described the purpose of the canal in his 1831 book Historical Account of the Navigable Rivers, Canals and Railways of Great Britain:

The estimate of cost was evidently inadequate because a second act of Parliament was obtained, the ' (59 Geo. 3.