Two comments on the comment below: Smith was not a Highlander, so his
natural allegiance did not necessarily lie with them. Second, the
Highlanders - as a whole - did not rise in 1745. Bonnie Prince
Charlie's support came from the Western Highlands, particularly from
Clan Ranald (the MacDonalds). Most Highlanders were Presbyterians (see
Diarmaid MacCulloch's magisterial Reformation: Europe's House Divided,
1490-1700 on this) and wanted no part of Bonnie Prince Charlie. The
Lowland Scots in Glasgow and Edinburgh were horrified at the Rising and
prepared to defend themselves against it. See Arthur Herman's
delightful How the Scots Invented the Modern World on this issue.
Neil Skaggs
To: History of Economics Societies
Subject: HES: Re: QUERY--Adam Smith on Scotland
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After what the Brits did to the Scottish Highlanders in the 1740s it is
amazing that Smith treats them in the civilized way he does. The Classical
school is still thought to be British economic thought and it took them until the 1830s to
"get it".
Scot Stradley