The union of the crowns in 1603 appeared to offer Scotland the prospect of peace, security, prosperity and a powerful voice in British and even European affairs. Instead there followed a century of warfare, instability, economic vulnerability and international marginalization. Yet in 1707 the Scottish estates voted to strengthen the relationship with England in a union of the parliaments. In this book the author sets out to explain how the regal union operated both at a British level and in terms of its impact on Scottish domestic politics. This is not a 'road to 1707' account of Scottish politics and Dr. Brown underlines just how peripheral the issue of union was for most of this period. It is an investigation into a form of early modern federal government, and its impact on politics. Events like the revolution against Charles I, Montrose's campaigns, the struggles of the covenanters and jacobitism are placed firmly in a British context without ever losing sight of their Scottish dimension. While there is no escaping the fact that executive power was now centred in London, the very great importance of the local authority of the aristocracy and the enduring strength of native political institutions and political ideas leads the author to reject the notion of an inevitable slide into anglicization and further union. As one of a number of multi-kingdom states in early modern Europe this analysis of Scottish politics should be of interest to a wide range of students of Scottish, British and European History. It will also answer many of the topical questions the more general reader might have about why Scotland surrendered her sovereignty to the English in the early eighteenth century.