The Scots and the Union

Radical and original, The Scots and the Union explodes the myth of betrayal that has informed 20th-century Scots’ understanding of how the United Kingdom was created in 1707. ‘Bought and sold for English gold’ is exposed as an ill-founded prejudice in this illuminating study of previously overlooked source material. The historiographical understanding of the union for the 21st century starts here …Tracing the background to the 1707 Treaty of Union, this book explains why union happened and assesses its impact on Scottish society, including the bitter struggle with the Jacobites for acceptance of the union in the two decades that followed its inauguration. Christopher Whatley offers a radical new interpretation of the causes of union, largely rejecting the idea that the Scots were ‘bought and sold for English gold’, emphasising instead the international, dynastic and religious contexts in which the union was negotiated.

Table of Contents:
Note on Style, and Abbreviations; List of Plates; Acknowledgements; Preface; Introduction: Contrasting and changing receptions of the union of 1707; 1: Issues, debates and aims; 2: Scotland under the union of the crowns to the Revolution of 1688-89:; searching for the roots of union; 3: Roots: ambition and achievement and the aftermath of Revolution; 4: The 1690s: a nation in crisis; 5: 'The most neglected and opprest State in Europe'? Confrontations and the; search for compromise, 1700-1705; 6: Digging Scotland out: Parliament and the reconstruction of the pathway; towards union, 1705-6; 7: Paving the way: the union commissioners and the hearts and minds of the; People; 8: 'An affair of the greatest concern and import': the union Parliament and; the Scottish nation; 9: Union in the balance, union accomplished; Appendices; Bibliography; Index.

About the Author :
Christopher A. Whatley OBE, FRSE, is Professor Emeritus at the University of Dundee. He is the author of the award-winning The Scots and the Union (EUP, 2006 and 2014), and co-edited Edinburgh University Press’s History of Everyday Life in Scotland series. Long interested in Dundee’s history he has co-edited and written several books on the city. Christopher A. Whatley OBE, FRSE, is Professor Emeritus at the University of Dundee. He is the author of the award-winning The Scots and the Union (EUP, 2006 and 2014), and co-edited Edinburgh University Press’s History of Everyday Life in Scotland series. Long interested in Dundee’s history he has co-edited and written several books on the city.

Review :
A masterly study, distinguished by painstaking research, broad and deep contextualisation, careful analysis and pellucid argument. Chris Whatley has changed the terms of debate on the making of the Union. Updated to take account of the forthcoming referendum on independence, Whatley’s classic is a vital corrective to the enduring myths associated with 1707. A major reinterpretation of the Union underpinned by a great deal of original research. With this volume, Whatley has achieved an important revision of what has been, for too long, an unsatisfactory, politically motivated account... Whatley's conclusions are derived from meticulous scholarship and should reset the historiography of Scotland and Great Britain regardless of its political implications. Never before has the theory, [bought and sold for English gold] been subjected to such a barrage of scholarly artillery. It is an impressive achievement, which sets the agenda for discussions of the Union then, and the Union now The publication of this book marks an important historiographical development for a mature understanding and appreciation of the events and issues relating to the 1707 union. It can now be regarded as the leading work on 1707... Our understanding of 1707 has been taken to a new level. ... Whatley’s book should be compulsory reading for all MSPs and media commentators, irrespective of their own political party allegiances and viewpoints, and for anyone who has an interest in Scottish history. An important and finely argued book. Everyone who seriously wants to understand how and why modern Scotland came into being should read it. Not a quick read, but a magnificently worthwhile one. Whatley’s careful research, spliced with fascinating detail, reveals the sophisticated politics used by these Scots and reclaims them as patriots. It is a magnificent study of the politics of the time. ... Whatley has done the history of the period a great service, stripping away the myths and revealing sophisticated people making sophisticated decisions. Agree or disagree, this book is an important contribution to an ongoing debate. The book’s careful weighing of the evidence, standing back and thinking about the silences and the biases of the past, pays dividends. The Scots and the Union offers the most complete and nuanced account of the state of the Scottish economy in the period between the Revolution of 1688 and the Union of 1707... This remarkable and deeply researched book. The Scots and the Union is the most substantial work of scholarship in modern Scottish history published in the last decade. The book’s careful weighing of the evidence, standing back and thinking about the silences and the biases of the past, pays dividends. The Scots and the Union offers the most complete and nuanced account of the state of the Scottish economy in the period between the Revolution of 1688 and the Union of 1707 … The book’s careful weighing of the evidence, standing back and thinking about the silences and the biases of the past, pays dividends. The Scots and the Union offers the most complete and nuanced account of the state of the Scottish economy in the period between the Revolution of 1688 and the Union of 1707... The publication of this book marks an important historiographical development for a mature understanding and appreciation of the events and issues relating to the 1707 union. It can now be regarded as the leading work on 1707 … Whatley’s book should be compulsory reading for all MSPs and media commentators, irrespective of their own political party allegiances and viewpoints, and for anyone who has an interest in Scottish history. The publication of this book marks an important historiographical development for a mature understanding and appreciation of the events and issues relating to the 1707 union. It can now be regarded as the leading work on 1707... Our understanding of 1707 has been taken to a new level. ... Whatley’s book should be compulsory reading for all MSPs and media commentators, irrespective of their own political party allegiances and viewpoints, and for anyone who has an interest in Scottish history. Scholarly, judicious and readable, The Scots and the Union convincingly demythologises the history of the event that was to change the course of Scottish history. Christopher Whatley’s account of the political world that gave birth to the Union will make uncomfortable reading for some. But it will provide many more with the sort of history they have been waiting for, for a very long time. For future historians, the history of the Union starts here. Whatley’s careful research, spliced with fascinating detail, reveals the sophisticated politics used by these Scots and reclaims them as patriots. It is a magnificent study of the politics of the time … Whatley has done the history of the period a great service. Whatley’s careful research, spliced with fascinating detail, reveals the sophisticated politics used by these Scots and reclaims them as patriots. It is a magnificent study of the politics of the time. ... Whatley has done the history of the period a great service, stripping away the myths and revealing sophisticated people making sophisticated decisions. This is an important and finely argued book. It brings an infusion of new evidence to bear on the old question of the causes of the Union of 1707. From it emerges a fresh interpretation of the birth of Great Britain, controversial but fairminded, solidly supported by scholarship. Everyone who seriously wants to understand how and why modern Scotland came into being should read it.