Editing Daniel Defoe (section)

==== Aftermath ====
In 1709, Defoe authored a lengthy book entitled ''The History of the Union of Great Britain'', an Edinburgh publication printed by the [[Heirs of Anderson]].<ref>[https://truescans.com/BeginnersFolder/Defoe.htm ''The History Of The Union Of Great Britain'', 1709; Edinburgh, Heirs of Anderson] at TrueScans.</ref> Defoe is cited twice in the book as its author,<ref>[http://truescans.com/BeginnersFolder/Images/Defoe_1709/DSCN9162.JPG First Defoe book author reference – cited as DANIEL DEFOE] at truescans.com.</ref><ref>[http://truescans.com/BeginnersFolder/Images/Defoe_1709/DSCN9166.JPG Second Defoe book author reference – cited as D. DE FOE] at truescans.com.</ref> and gives details of the events leading up to the ''[[Acts of Union 1707]]'', dating as far back as 6 December 1604, when King [[James VI and I|James I]] was presented with a proposal for unification.<ref>[http://truescans.com/BeginnersFolder/Images/Defoe_1709/DSCN9167A.JPG Book reference to 6th December of 1604] at truescans.com.</ref> This so-called "first draft" for unification took place just a little over 100 years before the signing of the 1707 accord.

Defoe made no attempt to explain why the same Parliament of Scotland which was so vehemently in favour of remaining independent from 1703 to 1705 became so supine in 1706. He received very little reward from his paymasters and no recognition for his services by the government. He made use of his Scottish experience to write his ''Tour thro' the whole Island of Great Britain'', published in 1726, where he admitted that the increase of trade and population in Scotland which he had predicted as a consequence of the Union was "not the case, but rather the contrary".

[[File:Glasgow Bridge c.1758.JPG|thumb|upright=1.4|Glasgow Bridge as Defoe might have seen it in the 18th century]]
Defoe's description of [[Glasgow]] (Glaschu) as a "Dear Green Place" has often been misquoted as a [[Scottish Gaelic|Gaelic]] translation for the town's name. The Gaelic ''Glas'' could mean grey or green, while ''chu'' means dog or hollow. ''Glaschu'' probably means "Green Hollow". The "Dear Green Place", like much of Scotland, was a hotbed of unrest against the Union. The local [[St George's Tron Church|Tron]] [[Minister (Christianity)|minister]] urged his congregation "to up and anent for the City of God".

The "Dear Green Place" and "City of God" required government troops to put down the rioters tearing up copies of the Treaty at almost every [[mercat cross]] in Scotland. When Defoe visited in the mid-1720s, he claimed that the hostility towards his party was "because they were English and because of the Union, which they were almost universally exclaimed against".<ref>{{cite book|title=Essential Scots and the Idea of Unionism in Anglo-Scottish Literature, 1603–1832|first=Rivka|last=Swenson|page=58|date=2015|edition=ebook|publisher=Bucknell University Press}}</ref>