Жозеф Галлоуэй: Американ саяхатшысы және тәуелсіздікке қарсылас

American politician (1731–1803)

Joseph Galloway (1731August 29, 1803) was an American attorney and a leading political figure in the events immediately preceding the founding of the United States in the late 1700s. As a staunch opponent of American independence, he would become one of the most prominent Loyalists in North America during the early part of the Revolutionary War. The son of a wealthy landowner, Galloway became close friends with Benjamin Franklin through his law studies in the late 1740s. His association with Franklin and his father in law's relationship with the Penn family drew him into the political drama then unfolding in the American colonies. Galloway was elected to the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly in 1756 when he was just 25. He would go on to serve for 18 years, eight of them as assembly speaker. With the capture of Philadelphia in September 1777, Howe appointed Galloway to govern the city as Superintendent of both Police and Port. and he was admitted to the bar and began to practice law in Philadelphia. Galloway married Grace Growdon on October 18, 1753. Her father, Laurence Growdon, was even wealthier than the Galloways, 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. He was a prominent member of the faction which opposed Pennsylvania being a proprietary colony of the Penn family, and he called for it to be turned into a crown 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. In 1768, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society, which Franklin founded, and served as vice president of the organization from 1769 to 1776. 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, 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, 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.

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. In the winter of 1777, he joined General William Howe and accompanied him on his Philadelphia campaign. During the British occupation of Philadelphia, he was appointed superintendent of police and headed the civil government.

In 1778, he fled to Britain with his daughter, never to return to the United States, becoming a leading spokesman of American Loyalists in London. The General Assembly of Pennsylvania convicted him of high treason and confiscated his estates, which included Trevose Manor, now known as Growdon Mansion, and much of the land that is now Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania. 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 ancestorial property). They expected that she would be able to join her daughter and husband afterwards, but Charles Willson Peale evicted her. Galloway was influential in convincing the British that a vast reservoir of Loyalist support could be tapped by British initiatives, thus setting up the British invasion of the American South. After the war, he spent his remaining years in religious studies and writing.