Joseph Galloway Joseph Galloway ( 1731 – 10 August 1803 ) was an American politician . Galloway became a Loyalist during the American War of Independence , after serving as delegate to the First Continental Congress from Pennsylvania . For much of his career in Pennsylvanian politics he was a close ally of Benjamin Franklin , and he became a leading figure in the colony . As a delegate to the Continental Congress Galloway was a moderate , and he proposed a Plan of Union which would have averted a full break from Britain . When this was rejected , Galloway moved increasingly towards Loyalism . After 1778 he lived in Britain , where he acted as a leader of the Loyalist movement and an advisor to the government . Once Britain ' s Parliament granted American independence as part of the Peace of Paris ( 1783 ) many Loyalists went into forced exile and Galloway permanently settled in Britain . Early life . Galloway was born near West River , Anne Arundel County , Maryland , the son of a landowner in the Colony . He moved with his father to Pennsylvania in 1749 , where he received a liberal schooling . He studied law , for a time alongside William Franklin the son of Benjamin Franklin and later a fellow leading Loyalist , and was admitted to the bar and began to practice in Philadelphia . Political career . Galloway soon became involved in the politics of the colony . He was a member of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly from 1756 to 1774 and served as Speaker of the House from 1766 to 1774 . He was a prominent member of the faction which opposed Pennsylvania being a Proprietary Colony of the Penn family , and called for it to be turned into a Crown Colony . Both Galloway and Franklin devoted a great deal of effort in lobbying London to bring the colony directly under the Crown ' s control . Galloway was throughout his career a British - American nationalist , believing that the British Empire offered a citizen greater liberties than any nation on earth . He believed 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 . 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 . The plan was rejected by the Continental Congress by one vote . He signed the nonimportation agreement , while at the same time he was opposed to independence for the Thirteen colonies and remained loyal to the King . Ferling ( 1977 ) argues that Galloway ' s conduct was motivated partly by opportunism , and partly by genuine philosophical principles . Galloway was a resident of cosmopolitan Philadelphia and an associate of Benjamin Franklin with whom he corresponded over the issues of American / colonial independence . 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 as early as 1765 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 ( although he did also believe the colonies ' words should be heard ) . Congress however voted to expunge Galloway ’ s plan from their journal , so he published it himself in 1775 , reprimanding Congress for ignoring his correct analysis of Parliament ’ s powers and colonial rights . He proposed a written constitution and joint legislature for the whole British Empire . When rejected , he declined election to the Continental Congress . American War of Independence . In 1775 , when the Assembly declined Galloway ' s recommendation that it abandon its defiance of Britain , Galloway left the Assembly and the Congress while Franklin sided with the movement towards colonial independence . Philadelphia Campaign . In winter of 1777 , Galloway joined the British General Howe and accompanied him on his capture of Philadelphia . During the British occupation , he was appointed Superintendent of Police , and headed the civil government . He had a reputation as a highly efficient administrator , but one who repeatedly interfered in military affairs . He aggressively organised the Loyalists in the city , but was dismayed when the British army decided to abandon the city in 1778 following France ' s entry into the war . When the British army withdrew to New York , he went with them . Exile in Britain . In 1778 , he fled to Britain with his daughter , never to return to the colonies , and became a leading spokesman of American Loyalists in London . In 1778 the General Assembly of Pennsylvania convicted him of high treason and confiscated his estates . Much of his property was the inheritance of his wife , Grace Growdon Galloway . They resided in Trevose Manor , now known as Growden Mansion , and owned much of the land which is now Bensalem , Pennsylvania In 1779 he appeared as a government witness in a parliamentary enquiry into the conduct of Lord Howe and General Howe during the Philadelphia Campaign of which he was deeply critical . When Galloway fled Philadelphia with the British his wife remained in the city with the hope of gaining her father ' s inheritance . She only left the family home when forcibly evicted by Charles Willson Peale . 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 . After the war Galloway spent his remaining years in religious studies and writing in England . He died in Watford , Hertfordshire , England on 10 August 1803 . Galloway Township , New Jersey , may have been named for him , although there is another possible source of the name .