Galloway, Joseph (găl`əwā'), c.1731–1803, American Loyalist leader, b. West River, Md. Galloway was a prominent lawyer with an interest in commerce and in speculation in Western lands. He entered the Pennsylvania assembly in 1756 and soon joined Benjamin Franklin in petitioning the king to abolish the proprietary government of the Penns. As speaker of the Pennsylvania assembly (1766–75) he attempted to conciliate between the colonies and the British government; he believed that the growing conflict could be settled by legal means, especially by a written constitution for the empire. Galloway served as a delegate to the first Continental Congress and proposed a plan for union between the colonies and Great Britain. Unable to maintain neutrality in the American Revolution, he joined Sir William Howe after the British occupied Philadelphia and acted as civil administrator during the British occupation of the city. Later (1778) Galloway went to England and became the spokesman of American Loyalists there.

Bibliography

See study by B. H. Newcomb (1972).

Galloway, Joseph

(born c. 1731, West River, Md.—died Aug. 29, 1803, Watford, Hertfordshire, Eng.) American colonial lawyer and legislator. Entering law practice in Philadelphia in 1747, Galloway won a reputation by pleading cases before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania before he was 20. He was elected to the colonial legislature in 1756 and served as speaker from 1766 to 1775. A loyalist, he opposed the independence of the colonies; his plan for a peaceful resolution of the conflict with Britain was narrowly rejected by the Continental Congress. During the American Revolution Galloway joined the British army under William Howe, becoming a civil administrator of Philadelphia during the British occupation of the city. When the Continental Army reentered Philadelphia in 1778, he fled to England.

Galloway, Joseph (c. 1731–1803) colonial statesman, Loyalist; born in West River, Md. He served in the Pennsylvania assembly (1756–64, 1766–76) and was a delegate to the First Continental Congress in 1774. He believed that the creation of a written constitution for the British empire would solve the existing political problems in the colonies. He joined the Loyalist camp and became the civil administrator for Philadelphia during its occupation by British soldiers (1777–78). He spent his last 25 years in England.