The publication of the glamorous second edition of Charles V in spring 1772 was a landmark in Robertson's career. The edition itself symbolized his new stature:

The Scottish minister now shared with stage with Diocletian and George III, who also bore comparison to Charles V. An important member of the Republic of Letters, Robertson received praise and solicitations from all over Europe and America. Following in 1777 would be the History of America, which Robertson considered his most laborious and ambitious history and which added luster to his standing as a historian as well as money in his account. In the church, “Dr. Robertson's administration” held, if not hegemony, at least a measure of control, but the Moderates survived challenges until the end of the decade. The university continued to prosper, although no major building projects were undertaken until the late 1780s. The college's reputation was high. An English visitor like Edward Topham could overlook the poor facilities and shabby students to claim Scottish education superior to that of England: “There are few places where a polite education can be better acquired than in this city; and where the knowledge requisite to form a Gentleman, and a Man of the World, can be sooner obtained.” Scots students “are always well stored with such acquisitions as render them more serviceable in society; and from which the most common occasions of life may reap some advantage” – a perfect restatement of the Moderate vision of education. International prestige arrived when Princess Dashkov, the close friend of Catherine the Great and a leading figure of the Russian Enlightenment, brought her son to enroll in the college in 1777. Over the course of the 1770s, Robertson also saw three of his children launched into the world: William completed his education as an advocate and secured a position as procurator in the church; James (at age sixteen) joined the army, was soon posted to Madras, and would go on to a notable military career; and Eleanor married John Russell, a solid, reliable Writer to the Signet.