ABSTRACT
Jacobitism in Scotland might be described as having mutated as it became associated with opposition to the union. Jacobitism appealed to Scots who valued the history and sovereignty of the ancient kingdom as well as those who opposed and resented the imposition of substantially higher rates of taxation, or alternatively, what could be perceived as an expansion of the resources devoted to tax collection after the union. Implicit in their alliance with Bolingbroke was the idea that their political project would render Jacobitism meaningless by accepting the Hanoverian succession while opposing Walpole’s increasing domination of government and policy. Alexander Hume’s essays, it has been argued, ‘staked out a framework for understanding contemporary British politics which was considerably more sophisticated than that which had hitherto dominated public debate, by Viscount Bolingbroke’. As opposed to following the Bolingbroke opposition line, drawing on traditions of classical republicanism, Hume emphasised the importance of stable political institutions and the rule of law.
