The Scots and the Union - Christopher A Whatley

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.