| 1 | Name: | Joseph Galloway | |
| Year Elected: | |||
| Residency: | Resident | ||
| Living? : | Deceased | ||
| Birth Date: | 1731 | ||
| Death Date: | 8/20/1803 | ||
Joseph Galloway (1731–29 August 1803) was a lawyer, politician, and prolific polemicist, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1768. Born in West River, Maryland, he moved to Philadelphia to practice law in 1747. Numbered among the city’s leading men, he was elected to Pennsylvania’s provincial assembly in 1756 with the help of Benjamin Franklin. Along with Franklin, Galloway lost his seat in 1764 after failing to transform the proprietary government into a royally-appointed one. But he was re-elected two years later, defeating pro-proprietary politician (and fellow APS member) John Dickinson, and in 1766 was named speaker, a position he held until 1775. Galloway objected to the Stamp Act but sought to suppress mob violence and to mitigate calls for independence. Seeking a system of government that granted colonial subjects representation without compromising parliamentary sovereignty, he proposed an imperial constitution guaranteeing a separate, though subordinate, American assembly. The First Continental Congress rejected this conciliatory proposal in 1774, however, and Galloway declined an invitation to the Second Continental Congress in order to prepare a defense of his proposal for publication. Now committed to Loyalism, he joined the British army, serving General William Howe as superintendent-general for the maintenance of civic peace and civil governor of occupied Philadelphia during the winter of 1777-1778. When Continental forces retook the city, Galloway evacuated to New York. Early 1779 found him in London, where he continued to promote imperial reconciliation and criticized the conduct of the war under General Howe, both in print and via parliamentary testimony. Often extracted and reprinted, his publications influenced many, including the preacher John Wesley. Late in life, Galloway turned from political writing to biblical prophecy and ecclesiastical history. (PI, ANB, DNB, DAB) | |||