Over the period 1792 to 1802 the British state faced the unprecedented situation of fighting a war against France, while simultaneously being challenged on the home front by an upsurge of political radicalism and demands for extensive alterations in the British political system. In the early part of the period, it was the threat posed by domestic radicalism and radical agitation which posed the greatest challenge to the government, but gradually, as radicalism was defeated and the threat of invasion from France increased, the war effort became the main priority and cause of concern for the authorities. This thesis examines Scotland's contribution to the British state's war against Revolutionary France and its struggles against the domestic challenges of the 1790s. with a view to establish how the government of Scotland met and handled the specific challenges it faced over the course of the decade, and the extent to which the Scots rallied to the defence of British state at this time of crisis. Chapter one sets out the main challenges facing the authorities in Scotland in this period, while chapter two addresses the government's overall response and policies. Emphasis has been placed on the relationship between the central government in London and local government officials in Scotland, and the degree of interaction which took place between the two. Chapter three provides more detail on the political trials which followed the government's decision to bring some of the leading radicals before the law courts on a charge of sedition, while chapters four and five address the two crucial aspects of the Scottish contribution to the war effort - the recruitment of men for service in the armed forces, and the financing of military operations. It is argued here that, while Scotland provided more than a proportionate share of men for armed service, the Scottish financial contribution was less than proportionate. The last two chapters examine the support the government received from the Scottish public. Chapter six looks at the various ways in which the Scots demonstrated loyalty to the British state at a time of war, and chapter seven discusses the arguments presented by loyalist writers in Scotland. Sections on naval protection for Scotland. barracks-building and the Scottish whisky-industry were omitted from the final version of the thesis to reduce its length, as were some details on the manager system and Henry Dundas, on the law of sedition in Scotland, and on the causes of the militia riots in 1797.

Although best remembered as an agricultural improver and reformer George Dempster of Dunnichen played a wide-ranging role in the public life of the country. He was in turn lawyer, member of parliament, proprietor and then director of the East India Company, partner in several cotton spinning enterprises, and director of the British Fisheries Society. He combined his interest in improving his own estates - and encouraging others to do likewise with theirs - with being one of an active group of businessmen who strove to develop trade and industry throughout Scotland. He established the Dundee Bank, actively supported road development in both Highlands and Lowlands, established many of the first lighthouses around the Scottish coasts, and introduced cold storage methods into the British fishing industry. He vigorously promoted the Scottish textile industries, both through parliamentary legislation and, more directly, by playing a major role in the introduction of cotton spinning into Scotland. His patriotic zeal on behalf of Scotland both in the political and the commercial spheres caused Dempster deservedly to become one of die most popular Scotsmen of his generation, a fact that has become clouded by his later obscurity. Nor was his popularity based purely on his achievements; Dempster had an attractive and disarming personality, remarked on by almost all who came into contact with him. This study attempts to provide as well-rounded a biography of George Dempster as is possible given the prescribed limitation of length. The diversity of his interests and the enthusiasm with which he pursued them are emphasised and every effort has been made through reference to primary sources to give a true portrait of Dempster the man while accurately recording his aims and achievements.

This thesis examines the social record of popular Jacobitism during the 1745 Rising as expressed through its plebeian constituency. Such an assessment fills in the gaps largely ignored by scholars of the Jacobite period, who instead tend to concentrate upon the elites and the political and doctrinal ideologies espoused by influential gentry. Using a purpose-built database to compile and analyse a large number of resources including lists of prisoners, trial records, muster rolls, and government papers, a prosopographical survey of over 15,000 persona entries is presented. The study looks at four thematic aspects of popular Jacobitism, which describe motivation, constituency, recruitment, and consequences. These combine to provide a social profile of the ‘lesser sort' of those persons involved in rebellion against the Hanoverian government, whether martial or civilian. The results suggest that practicality was a major influence in drawing the common people into civil war, and that the ideological tenets of Jacobitism, much diluted by 1745, took a backseat to issues of necessity. Widespread ambivalence to the political climate made harsh recruiting methods necessary, and rampant desertion reinforced that need until the army's defeat at Culloden. Both the willing and unwilling supporters of Charles Edward Stuart's landing in Scotland represented local, national, and international interests and stretched across class divides. Civilians contributed to the effort along with the soldiers, but limited martial support both domestic and foreign was insufficient to sustain the Stuart-sanctioned coup and the exiled dynasty's hopes for a subsequent restoration. Understanding that weak punitive measures after 1715 enabled yet another rising thirty years later, the government's response after Culloden was swift and brutal. Though its campaigns of containment and suppression strained the resources of the judicial system, effective punishment was seen as a necessity, dominating British policy even as the state was involved in a larger war on the Continent. This thesis demonstrates that plebeians used by the Jacobite elites were ill-equipped to support the strategies of the cause, yet they ultimately bore the brunt of the reparations for treasonous expressions, however questionable their commitment may have been.

The study investigates the late seventeenth century origins of the Scottish Enlightenment, and it offers a timely reassessment of both the coherence and concept of the 'early Enlightenment'. Traditionally maligned as the most contemptible chapter in the nation's history, seventeenth-century Scotland has, until very recently, been noted only for its religious fanaticism, political corruption, and intellectual sterility. Most recent work on Scotland during this period represents a revisionist effort to do belated justice to the history of Scotland at that time by stressing its pivotal importance to the eighteenth-century Scottish Enlightenment. While these studies are important and have shed much light on this long misunderstood period, they tend to evaluate it in a progressivist fashion, based on the extent to which it successfully anticipated or contributed to the rational achievements and secularized outlook of the eighteenth century. The aims of this project are twofold: to painstakingly re-contextualise the controversies of the period; and to critique and move to the foreground important questions of tone and the progressivist focus, or orientation of studies of early Enlightenment Scotland. It does this by closely examining two of the trends most commonly linked to the rise of European Enlightenment: (1) the declining significance of demonic agency and the crime of witchcraft, as well as its isomorphic cousin, heresy; and (2) the corresponding rise of scepticism, rationalism and toleration. According to these two measures of Enlightenment, it is argued, Scotland's early transition from a traditional 'persecuting society' to a tolerant 'enlightened' one was not as decisive or as progressive as most revisionist historians claim. Drawing upon evidence from Scotland, England and Continental Europe this study opens new, much needed, lines of debate regarding the late seventeenth-century roots of the Scottish Enlightenment, by demonstrating the important, sophisticated roles conservative and mystical religious opinion played in shaping the intellectual character of early Enlightenment Scotland.

This thesis explores how social and economic change within the the distinctive region of Badenoch compares with similar developments in other parts of the Highlands. It demonstrates that the Highlands were not an isolated periphery by placing localised issues not just within the wider dimension of the British state and empire, but also within the ideological framework that shaped and influenced contemporary thought. Society in Badenoch was divided into three clearly demarcated but inter-woven ranks: the aristocratic Dukes of Gordon, the gentry and the peasantry. The peasant economy operated at subsistence level, primarily pastoral and heavily dependent on a complex system of transhumance. But there was also a thriving cattle-based commercial economy driven by the indigenous tacksmen, who further demonstrated their entrepreneurship through diversification into agricultural improvement, sheep, textiles and timber. The conflicting demands for land, particularly the hill grazings, inevitably created tensions between the social ranks. The Badenoch economy suffered badly from climatic problems and fluctuating market prices, with two major famines occurring before the end of the century. These apart, however, the economy, and the lives of the entire community, experienced gradual improvement, not just through increasing commercialism, but also through the government's military requirements for its imperial and European wars – a massive economic boost across the social spectrum. Change inevitably caused friction between the social classes over issues like rising rents, the appropriation of land (particularly for sheep) and clearances, which, along with the pressures of commercialism and government policy, had almost completely destroyed traditional clan society by 1800. The tacksman class, however, remained dominant despite the challenge to their traditional authority from both the Dukes of Gordon and the increasingly assertive commonalty.

This thesis examines the patronage and collecting of Alexander, l0th Duke of Hamilton, premier peer of Scotland, son-in-law of the maniacal collector William Beckford, and arguably the greatest collector in the history of Scotland. Using archival evidence from many sources, it begins with investigations of the Duke's early collecting of Italian Renaissance paintings and manuscripts, acquisitions associated with Russia between 1807 and 1814, involvement with Princess Pauline Borghese and the Bonaparte family, and purchases of porphyry and marble in Rome between 1817 and 1827. Chapters 5 and 6 focus on the extension and refurbishment of Hamilton Palace between 1822 and 1832 and parallel purchases of furniture, furnishings and applied art. Special attention is paid to motivation and the acquisition of items from the Fonthill sale, tapestries made for Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, furniture owned by Marie-Antoinette, Napoleon's 1810 tea service, bronze statues (wrongly) associated with Francis I of France - which served to underline the Duke's status and "support" his claim to the French dukedom of Chatellerault - and porphyry busts of Roman emperors that were "superior" to the bronze copies in the British royal collection. Chapter 7 reviews the last grand projects: the extremely expensive great black marble staircase, planned equestrian monument of the Duke as Marcus Aurelius, and Hamilton Mausoleum. The final chapter concentrates on the later purchases of Classical items and plaster copies, second marble bust of Princess Pauline, Thorvaldsen 's Napoleon Apotheosized, and Old Master paintings, and discusses how the Duke displayed his collection, in colourways, running sequences, clusters, and "end statements". A ''post mortem " conclusion sketches out the continuity of collecting Napoleonic material, as a consequence of the Duke's son and heir's marriage to the daughter of the adopted daughter of Napoleon and cousin of Napoleon Ill and the dispersal of the collection and demolition of Hamilton Palace between 1880 and 1930.

Any military body which is essentially an irregularly raised volunteer force presents certain peculiar problems of recruitment, discipline and organisation. The resources available to a regular army to secure enlistment, discipline and supplies, were, because of its very nature, denied to the Jacobite army of 1745/6. The methods, however, by which the problems of recruitment, discipline and finance were solved by the rebel army were often to play a decisive part in the fate of the rebellion as a whole. Problems of local recruitment, and the availability of small parties of men to enforce recruiting or levy money, were often to affect the fortunes of the rebel army operating at a distance of several counties. In one sense such local activities remained isolated from the main strategy, for local recruitment was apparently much less affected by the varying fortunes of the main force than might have been expected. It is difficult to trace a discernible pattern between important military successes or reverses and local recruitment. Local recruitment, for instance, was affected primarily by the presence locally of the main force rather than by the news of military actions elsewhere. The major actions of the campaign do not appear to have had a decisive effect on recruitment, even in their own immediate neighbourhood. From, for instance, the St. Andrews district, out of a total of forty-four rebel recruits in the official "List of Persons concerned in the Rebellion," only five joined after the Jacobite victory of Prestonpans. Again, from Haddington, an area which one would also expect to reflect the action at Prestonpans, out of fifty-nine recruits, only ten joined after that battle. These statistics alone, of course, are not conclusive. The lists of named adherents are not exhaustive and precise details of time of adherence are not given in all cases. The figures do, however, serve to suggest that the factors which explain local recruitment. are complex rather than simple. Such factors are examined separately in relation to each geographical area.

This thesis offers a reinterpretation of radicalism and reform movements in Scotland and British North America in the first half of the nineteenth century by examining the relationship between ecclesiology and political action. It considers the ways in which Presbyterian political theory and the memory of the seventeenth-century Covenanting movement were used to justify political reform. In particular it examines attitudes in Scotland to Catholic emancipation, the Reform Act of 1832, the disestablishment of the national Churches, and the Chartist movement; and it considers agitation in Upper Canada and Nova Scotia for the disestablishment of the established Church and the institution of responsible government. It emphasises the continued relevance of religion in political culture, tracing the survival of the Scottish Covenanting tradition and charting its significance within the wider British empire. It argues that there existed a transatlantic Presbyterian community and that to some degree Presbyterian-inflected radicalism in this period was a North Atlantic phenomenon.

This thesis considers the interrelationship between the discourse and performance of gender, national identity and political agency in Scotland during the Union debates of 1706-07 and the mid-to-late eighteenth-century Scottish Enlightenment. These two periods are offered in contrast to each other in order to demonstrate the means by which changing discourses of gender and national identity impacted upon the performance of political agency. The first section of this thesis (Chapters 2 and 3) demonstrates that anti-Union discourse in 1706-07 was founded upon a conception of a masculine Scottish nationhood defined by ‘heroick ancestors’. This is contrasted with women’s political agency at the time, demonstrated most markedly by elite women’s ability to influence parliamentary politics. I argue that despite masculinist discourses of nationhood, during the Union debates status was a more important determinant of political agency than gender. The second section of my thesis (Chapters 4, 5 and 6) considers the centrality of male refinement and ‘civilised’ femininity to discourses of North British nationhood in the context of the Scottish Enlightenment. I examine the construction and performance of male refinement within intellectual societies and convivial clubs and then consider women’s limited inclusion in the urban Enlightenment public sphere, demonstrating that discourses of femininity necessarily precluded women’s full public engagement in this sphere. The final chapter (Chapter 7) considers martial masculinity, particularly the masculine ideal of martial Highland manhood in order to demonstrate the problematic aspect of notions of hegemonic masculinity and in order to bring the story of the Highlands and Empire into the story of Enlightenment Scotland. This thesis will demonstrate the centrality of gender to discourses of national identity and examine the impact of these on the performance of political agency in eighteenth-century Scotland and in doing so offers a contribution to the history of gender and political power.

In recent years there has been a renewed interest in Scottish contributions to the intellectual development in the early America. There has been a significant amount of work focused on Scottish luminaries such as Hutcheson, Hume and Smith and their influence on the eighteenth century American founding fathers. However, little attention has been directed at what we might call the later reception of the Scottish Enlightenment in the first half of the nineteenth century. This thesis presents an in-depth account of the intellectual and literary contributions of two relatively obscure philosophers of the nineteenth century: George Jardine and Sir William Hamilton. This study is framed by biographies of their lives as academics and then focuses on a detailed account of their work as represented in American books and periodicals. In addition, some attention will be given to their respected legacies, in regards to their students who immigrated to America. This thesis is comprised of two sections. The first contains five chapters that lay out the details of the lives and legacies of Jardine and Hamilton. Chapter 1 looks at the literary and historical context of Scotland’s contributions to early American academic development. Chapter 2 is a focused biography of the academic life of George Jardine. Though this biography centres on Jardine’s life as an educator, it constitutes the most complete account of his life to date. Chapter 3 looks in depth at Jardine’s academic and literary reception in America. This chapter chronicles the dissemination of Jardine’s pedagogical strategies by former students who immigrated to America as well as how his ideas were presented in American books and journals. Chapter 4 returns to a biographical format focused on one of Jardine’s most famous students – Sir William Hamilton. Like the biography on Jardine the emphasis of this chapter is on Hamilton’s role as an educator. Chapter 5 looks at Sir William Hamilton’s academic and literary reception in the United States. This chapter also presents material on Hamilton’s personal connections to Americans that have been overlooked in transatlantic intellectual history. Section two presents annotated catalogs of books and journals that exemplify the literary reception of Jardine and Hamilton in America. In the case of Jardine I include catalogs of two of his students who immigrated to America as a means to highlight Jardine’s indirect impact on the American religious and educational literature. Whereas many have argued that the 19th century witnessed a decline in Scottish education and Philosophy this study shows that these ideas thrived in America and it is evident Scotland was still exporting useful knowledge to the United States well past the civil war.