In the latter years of the 18th century and the early years of the 19th century, Glasgow was like other parts of Scotland, most notably Edinburgh and Aberdeen, in that its citizens were engaged in what he would now call politics but which back then was described as philosophical speculation. The Scottish Enlightenment, of which Glasgow was a principal centre, led people young and old, wise and foolish, and mostly male but with a few female contributors, to discuss, question and learn about such issues as emancipation, human rights, state power, and political control of the many by the f...