Joseph Galloway | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Etching of Joseph Galloway | |
| Member of theFirst Continental Congress fromPennsylvania | |
| In office September 5, 1774 – October 26, 1774 Serving with Edward Biddle; John Dickinson; Charles Humphreys; Thomas Mifflin; John Morton; Samuel Rhoads; George Ross | |
| Member of thePennsylvania Provincial Assembly | |
| In office 1776–1776 | |
| 25th Speaker of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly (1st term) | |
| In office 1766–1769 | |
| Preceded by | Joseph Fox |
| Succeeded by | Joseph Fox |
| 27th Speaker of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly (2nd term) | |
| In office 1769–1774 | |
| Preceded by | Joseph Fox |
| Succeeded by | Edward Biddle |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1731 (1731) |
| Died | August 29, 1803(1803-08-29) (aged 71–72) Watford,Hertfordshire, England |
| Spouse | |
| Relations | Samuel Galloway III (cousin) |
| Residence(s) | Philadelphia,Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Profession |
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| Signature |  |
Joseph Galloway (1731—August 29, 1803[1]) was an American attorney and a leading political figure in the events immediately preceding the founding of theUnited States in the late 18th-century. As a staunch opponent of American independence, he would become one of the most prominentLoyalists in North America during the early part of theRevolutionary War.
The son of a wealthy landowner, Galloway became close friends withBenjamin Franklin through his law studies in the late 1740s. His association with Franklin and his father-in-law's relationship with thePenn family drew him into the political drama then unfolding in theAmerican colonies.[2][3] Galloway was elected to thePennsylvania Provincial Assembly in 1756 when he was just 25. He would go on to serve for 18 years, eight of them as assemblyspeaker.[1]
In 1774, Galloway led the Pennsylvania delegation in theFirst Continental Congress inPhiladelphia, where as aconservative he proposed a plan for forming a union between the colonies andGreat Britain.[4][3] After the Congress failed to adopt hisPlan of Union, he signed theContinental Association, an agreement uniting the colonies in aboycott of British goods.[2][4] Unhappy with theradical directions being taken, Galloway quit the Assembly and refused election to theSecond Continental Congress in May 1775. Remaining loyal to theking, he opposed the adoption of theDeclaration of Independence the next year.[1]
Three months after the Declaration's signing, Galloway fled toNew York to join the British.[2] As a top advisor toWilliam Howe, thecommander-in-chief of British forces in North America, he provided crucialintelligence, assisted in planning attacks onContinental Army troops, and personally recruited upwards of 80spies.[5] With thecapture of Philadelphia in September 1777, Howe appointed Galloway to govern the city as Superintendent of both Police and Port.[5][3]
When the British abandoned Philadelphia in June 1778, Galloway escaped to England and was convicted of hightreason in absentia by the Pennsylvania Assembly; his estates were confiscated.[1][5] Through the end of the war, Galloway was a leader of the loyalist cause in exile, a group of between 80,000 and 100,000 displaced colonists.[3] He would never return to the Americas, nor again see his wife whom he had left behind in hopes of recovering his properties.[6]
Galloway was born nearWest River,Anne Arundel County, Maryland, the son of Peter Bines Galloway and Elizabeth Rigbie.[7] Galloway was a fourth generation Marylander, hisQuaker forebears arriving in the colonies in 1649.[8] In 1740, he moved with his father to Pennsylvania where he received a liberal schooling.[1] He studied law, for a time alongsideWilliam Franklin, the son of Benjamin Franklin and later a fellow Loyalist,[9] and he was admitted to the bar and began to practice law inPhiladelphia.
On October 18, 1753, Galloway marriedGrace Growdon. In doing so, he relinquished his place in the Quaker faith.[10] Her father, Laurence Growdon, was even wealthier than the Galloways and well placed in the political and social lives of Philadelphia. Both Galloway and his wife had strong personalities, and consequently, theirs was an unhappy union.[6][3]
Galloway was a member of thePennsylvania Provincial Assembly from 1756 to 1774 and served as speaker of the House from 1766 to 1774.[11] He was a prominent member of the faction which opposed Pennsylvania being aproprietary colony of thePenn family, and he called for it to be turned into acrown colony. He was a Loyalist, believing that most Americans would prefer to remain loyal to the Crown if only they were given a legitimate and effective government that would inspire their loyalty.[12]
Galloway was a member of the Continental Congress in 1774, where he proposed a compromise plan for Union with Great Britain which would provide the colonies with their own parliament subject to the Crown. The Continental Congress rejected it by one vote. He signed theContinental Association, while he was opposed to independence for theThirteen Colonies and remained loyal to the king.[11] He was a resident of Philadelphia and an associate of Benjamin Franklin with whom he corresponded over the issues of American independence.[13] In 1768, he was elected to theAmerican Philosophical Society, which Franklin founded, and served as vice president of the organization from 1769 to 1776.[14][10]
Galloway urged reform of the imperial administration and was critical of the trade laws, theStamp Act of 1765, and theTownshend Acts enacted in 1767, and he had a conciliatory plan to end the disputes between Britain and the colonies. He believed that the British had the right to tax and govern the colonies, keep the peace, and help the colonies to survive and flourish. Congress voted to expunge Galloway's plan from their journal, so he published it himself in 1775,[15] reprimanding Congress for ignoring his analysis of Parliament's powers and colonial rights. He proposed a written constitution and joint legislature for the whole British Empire.[12]
In 1775, the Assembly rejected Galloway's urging that it abandon its struggle for independence from Britain, so Galloway left the Assembly and the Congress.[16] In the winter of 1777, he joined GeneralWilliam Howe and accompanied him on hisPhiladelphia campaign. During the British occupation of Philadelphia, he was appointed superintendent of police and headed the civil government.[12] He efficiently organized the Loyalists in Philadelphia, but the British were driven out of the city in 1778 followingFrance's entry into the war. The British retreated to New York, and Galloway went with them.
When Benjamin Franklin departed for France in 1776, he left behind a chest of his papers, containing letters and manuscripts, and entrusted them to Galloway for safe keeping in his personal residence,Trevose Manor, just north of Philadelphia. At some point between 1776 and 1778, Trevose Manor was raided; some of Franklin's papers were stolen, while others were left scattered around as a result of the raid. The identities of the raiders were disputed, and modern historians note that no concrete information exists as to their identity.[17][18]
In 1778, he fled to Britain with his daughter Elizabeth, never to return to the United States.[19] There, he would become a leading spokesman of American Loyalists in London. The General Assembly of Pennsylvania convicted him of hightreason and confiscated his estates, which included Trevose Manor, now known asGrowdon Mansion, and much of the land that is nowBensalem Township, Pennsylvania.[11] In 1779, he appeared as a government witness in a parliamentary enquiry into the conduct ofLord Howe andGeneral Howe during the Philadelphia Campaign, of which he was deeply critical.[20] When Galloway fled Philadelphia with the British, his wife Grace remained in the city with the hope of retaining the rights of their property (her ancestral property). They expected that she would be able to join her daughter and husband afterwards, butCharles Willson Peale evicted her.[21]
Galloway was influential in convincing the British that a vast reservoir of Loyalist support could be tapped by British initiatives, thus setting up the Britishinvasion of the American South. After the war, he spent his remaining years in religious studies and writing.[11] He died a widower inWatford,Hertfordshire on August 29, 1803;[1] his wife had died on February 6, 1782.[6]
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