Foundations for studying the Glorious Revolution have generally been devoted to evaluating Scotland’s participation, or lack thereof, in either side of the 1688-89 conflict more broadly. However, this political history tends to relegate the religious question solely to the nature of James VII’s Catholic identity, rather than placing it at the center of how Scotland itself was changed dramatically by the tactics and policies of this king’s rule. Presbyterianism is relegated to a matter of identity politics rather than a political force unto itself. The scope of this poster will be more specified, focusing on how religion, particularly Presbyterianism, shaped popular politics during the Glorious Revolution in Scotland, and thus Scotland’s relationship with its own government before it was subsumed into England's with the Act of Union (1707) and the creation of the United Kingdom. Popular discourse, however hard to identify and evaluate, can be measured through the circulation of ephemeral print literature during this time.
The themes that this poster will address include religion and the formation of national identity during religious conflict. Print became the stage upon which this conflict was acted before violent revolution took hold. The nascent nationalism of late 17th-century Scotland will be addressed as an aspect of popular discourse under James VII's rule, but the poster and this research will ask the viewer to bear in mind how intertwined religion was with these phenomena. The poster will include the themes as listed above, as well as extracts from the Presbyterian sermons and royal declarations. There will be a context section in order to lay a firm foundation on the state of Scotland pre-British unification. The research question as well as the answer will be included, alongside images of the Scottish pamphlets consulted.