Publisher's Synopsis
A new, revised edition of this invaluable guide to the background to and causes of the Union of 1707 which, outside Parliament in Edinburgh, was deeply unpopular in Scotland. Extended and re-written in the light of re-establishment of a Scottish Parliament in 1999, the book takes the reader through the maze of competing arguments about why Scots gave up their Parliament in the first place. Professor Whatley's account is dispassionate but also lucid, highly readable and frank in its assessments. Importantly, the book views the Union not only from the Scottish perspective, but also from that of England. It also considers the context of Europe, where political unions were by no means unusual by the early eighteenth century.
