The 1764 Jacobite defeat at Culloden left Scotland divided and bankrupt. A Scottish diaspora throughout the colonial British empire (e.g. Culloden plantation on Jamaica), including Jacobite exilees, played a key part in building a rich, confident Scotland. Instead of fatal religious fanaticism, enlightened capitalist modernity was successfully adopted in science, overseas commerce, industry and society by self-made Scots, as studied by Adam Smith. Glasgow became their leading, opulent merchant port city, exploiting the colonies. Its small rich elite owning everything and wretched masses soon awoke literate protest against inequality at home and merciless slavery. Both helped sparkle the American Revolution.
—KGF Vissers