Andrew Fletcher has been known since his own lifetime as "The Patriot" because of his determined resistance to the parliamentary Union of Scotland and England in 1707. More recently he has won a new reputation for the boldness, lucidity and originality of his political thought, in which he advocated parliamentary democracy, Scottish independence and European co-operation.

This biography of Fletcher describes the events which led to the Union, and offers a critical analysis of his essays and speeches which takes account of recent scholarship on the subject.