It’s Not About 1707: Patrick Edward Dove and the Scottish Sonderweg

During the national commemoration of the three-hundredth anniversary of the Scottish Reformation in 1860, the political scientist, Patrick Edward Dove, delivered an address on ‘Scotland After the Reformation’. In this address, Dove created a teleology of Scottish nationality, linking the medieval Wars of Independence with the Glorious Revolution of 1688/9, via the Reformation and the Covenanters. This Scottish Sonderweg stands as a powerful example of how nineteenth-century Scots saw their past as holding deep significance for the present, with the Scottish nation standing as England’s equal throughout history. Rather than being parochial navel-gazing, such an interpretation of the past reflected the nineteenth-century vogue for constructed national histories, connecting a series of emblematic golden ages sustaining the nation across time. Furthermore, Dove’s speech indicates that it was the Glorious Revolution – not 1707 – that saw the true moment of union between Scotland and England’s distinct yet intertwined religious and constitutional paths.