The Scots and the Union

'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.' Ruaridh Nicoll, The Observer

'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.' John R. Young, Scottish Review of Books, Sunday Herald

'The Scots and the Union is the most substantial work of scholarship in modern Scottish history published in the last decade' Colin Kidd, Journal of Scottish Historical Studies

'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...' John Morrill FBA, Times Higher Education Supplement

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.