This is a book of collected first-hand source material exploring Scotland's place within its union with England. The idea was to try to find those who were in favour of the union but felt they had a duty to make it a more equal union by solving varying grievances the population had from the time of its signing. There are many misconceptions these days with regards the Treaty of Union Scotland entered into with England in 1707. There's a pervading belief of Scotland, the country, ceasing to exist in place of the country of Great Britain. There are also those who believe our monarch is only such due to this treaty. In both of these examples the falsehood becomes more evident when you exchange Scotland with England and claim the same. The easiest go-to for the information was the British press for articles, op-eds and correspondence. And, jings, did they deliver! From issues of political apathy in the first half-century post-union, calls for a home militia, to comparisons with Ireland after their entering the union in 1801. Over-taxation, under-funding, and centralisation are recurring issues creating a pervasive feeling of unfairness in how each country was individually treated within the unions. For the most part, every believer in the union, had a grievance of some kind; whether it was in Scotland's under-representation in Westminster, the paying of England's debts, or attempts at Centralisation both by the dissolution of our national institutions, supposedly protected by the treaty, and the insistence Britain/British could be just as easily replaced with England/English. There was one main article in particular that seemed to grab people's attention, however, which I titled the 'Financial Cost to Scotland of the Union.' It's written by Harry Gow and lays out the figures in black and white leading us to believe nothing much has changed since it was written in 1891. The vast majority of this compilation of articles is penned by authors in favour of the British union, from varying newspapers across mainland Britain and Ireland, in case anyone was wondering about bias on this subject.
