The Loyalist Mind: Joseph Galloway and the American Revolution

Abstract

A leading political figure in Pennsylvania, Joseph Galloway after 1776 was branded a traitor and a cringing, bowing sycophantic Tory. Galloway's tragedy is shown in this book to have been ideological: he was a strict constitutionalist. In this respect, Dr. Ferling contends, he was a typical Loyalist, generally more principled than self-serving. In 1774, Galloway's Plan of Union lost in Congress by one vote-a loss that changed course of history, since Galloway tried to avoid revolution by anticipating British commonwealth system. In 1775, when Assembly spurned Galloway's recommendation that it abandon its defiance of Britain, Galloway quit Assembly and Congress-whereas Franklin joined forces that conceived Declaration of Independence. Galloway served General Howe as a compiler of intelligence reports, as a recruiter of Loyalist troops, and as police commissioner of British-occupied Philadelphia. After 1778 he pamphleteered in London to rally flagging British war effort, and he wrote one of earliest histories of American Rebellion. Until his death in exile in 1803, Galloway remained steadfast in his belief that the most proper Plan for cementing two countries together would have been constitutional, granting America same Rights and Privileges as are enjoyed by Subjects in Britain.