Andrew Fletcher opposed the parliamentary Union of Scotland and England, and was an advocate of parliamentary democracy, Scottish independence and European co-operation. This biography describes the events which led to the Union, and offers a critical analysis of Fletcher's essays and speeches.

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. The author, one of the leaders of the Scottish National Party, is a former diplomat who has written extensively on Scottish literature, history and politics, and who has made a special study of the Union question, both in its origins and its consequences.