Joseph Galloway

Colonial statesman and Loyalist, born in West River, Maryland, USA. He served in the Pennsylvania assembly (1756–64, 1766–76) and was a delegate to the First Continental Congress (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 (1777–8). He spent his last 25 years in England.

Joseph Galloway (1731–August 29, 1803) was an American Loyalist during the American Revolution, after serving as delegate to the First Continental Congress from Pennsylvania. Galloway was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1757-1775 and served as Speaker of the House from 1766-1774.

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. Ferling (1977) argues that Galloway's conduct was motivated partly by opportunism, and partly by genuine philosophical principles. A resident of cosmopolitan Philadelphia and an associate of Benjamin Franklin, Galloway was throughout his career a British-American nationalist, believing that the British Empire offered a citizen greater liberties than any nation on earth. Galloway urged reform of the imperial administration and was critical of the trade laws, the Stamp Act of 1765, and the Townshend Acts enacted in 1767;

In December of 1776, Galloway joined the British General Howe and accompanied him on his capture of Philadelphia. He was influential in convincing the British that a vast reservoir of Loyalist support could be tapped by aggressive leadership, thus setting up the British invasion of the South.

He died in Watford, Hertfordshire, England on August 29, 1803.

One of two alternate explanations is that Galloway Township, New Jersey was named for Galloway. The Loyalist Mind: Joseph Galloway and the American Revolution 1977, Pennsylvania State Univ Press; Franklin and Galloway: A Political Partnership. Yale U.