The Union of 1707

This book, a supplement to volume lxxxvii of the Scottish Historical Review, consists of seven papers presented at a conference held at the Royal Society of Edinburgh in May 2007. It contributes to a crowded field, which experienced what the editors describe as a ‘bumper period’ (p. v) around the tercentenary of the Anglo-Scottish union. Unsurprisingly, therefore, the title is misleading. Indeed, the only particularly ‘new’ dimension here is Andrew Mackillop's account of the consequences of the union for Scottish trade with Asia, which itself builds upon arguments Mackillop has published elsewhere (‘Accessing empire: Scotland, Europe, Britain, and the Asia trade, 1695–c.1750’, Itinerario, 29:3 [2005], 7–30). Nevertheless, he and the other contributors offer valuable insights into the causes and immediate results of the union, assessing the significance of economic arguments, religious and geopolitical concerns, parliamentary management and political thought. Christopher Whatley's introductory essay is a useful survey of the ‘issues facing Scotland in 1707’. As in his monograph, The Scots and the Union (2006; rev. ante, cxxiv [2009], 431–4), Whatley stresses the severity of Scotland's economic difficulties in the early eighteenth century, following the famine of the late 1690s and the failure of the Scottish colony at Darien. These economic realities encouraged Scots to support parliamentary union with England, but a similarly important consideration for many was the need to prevent a Jacobite restoration and the renewal of the religious and political conflicts experienced during the reigns of Charles II and James VII. Derek Patrick's chapter concurs in emphasising this aspect of presbyterian ‘memory’. Contrasting their views with those of nationalist and Namierite historians, Whatley and Patrick argue that the supporters of union were more often principled and pragmatic than mercenary and venal

Ancient history · Art · Economic history · Economic policy · Economics · Empire · European integration · European union · Geopolitics · Literature · Political economy · Political science · Political union · Politics · Scots · Sociology · Classics · History · Law · Scottish History and National Identity