The Scots and the Union

Abstract

The Scots and the Union explores the reasons for and the immediate consequences of the British Union of 1707 which created the United Kingdom. Research-based, critically acclaimed and the winner of the Saltire Society’s Scottish History Book of the Year in 2007, The Scots and the Union challenges allegations that the Union was simply a ‘political job’, driven by self-seeking, venal Scottish politicians. Instead it argues that many of the backers of the Union in Scotland – mainly Presbyterian Whigs - were principled in their belief that the measure was necessary if the gains of the ‘Glorious’ Revolution in Scotland were to be secured from the threat facing both England and Scotland, of a return of the absolutist rule of the Stuarts and the militancy of Catholic France under Louis XIV. Other key considerations included the economic benefits to Scotland of Union.

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