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GALLOWAY, Joseph (1731-1803), Tory. Letter signed ("Jos. Galloway") countersigned by Samuel Rhoades, as members of the Pennsylvania Committee of Correspondence, "TO THE COMMITTEE OF CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE COLONY OF VIRGINIA," Philadelphia, 1 July 1774. 4 pages, small 4to, second leaf neatly inlaid to a larger sheet.
GALLOWAY URGES HIS PLAN OF UNION ON THE VIRGINIA COMMITTEE OF CORRESPONDENCE
Writing "In behalf of the Committee," Galloway accedes to a request to "communicate our Sentiments on the unhappy Dispute with the Mother Country," and urges a form of Union with great Britain. The late measures in Parliament, he writes, constitute proof of Britain's intention to "draw a Revenue from the Subject in America without his Consent"; this will affect "every British American colony," and every possible measure must be taken "to obtain that relief which our Rights as English Subjects entitle us to demand." For this, "the American Legislatures, in which the people are constitutionally represented," must determine the course of action, and "we earnestly hope and recommend that the great Cause of American Rights may be left to the...representatives of the People in every Colony." Since "we are in a state of society in which Order, Reason and Policy ought to prevail, every Measure which can only serve to irritate and not convince, every Act of Violence...should be carefully avoided. A Congress of delegates...appears...the first proper Step to be taken." This Congress might be able "by their united Wisdom, to ascertain our Rights, and establish a political Union between the two Countries...which would secure to Americans their future Rights and Privileges. Anything short of this will leave the Colonies in their present precarious State, disunited among themselves, unsettled in their Rights...and destitute of their Connection with Great-Britain which is indispensably necessary to the safety and happiness of both..."
Galloway, a Philadelphia lawyer and friend of Benjamin Franklin, served in the Assembly (1757-1774) and was a member of the Committee of Correspondence. His letter is an apparent movet to garner support for the Plan of Union submitted by him to the First Continental Congress in September, two months later; it was rejected by Congress by a single vote. When hostilities broke out, Galloway declared himself a Tory and during the British occupation of Philadelphia served as civil governor.
GALLOWAY URGES HIS PLAN OF UNION ON THE VIRGINIA COMMITTEE OF CORRESPONDENCE
Writing "In behalf of the Committee," Galloway accedes to a request to "communicate our Sentiments on the unhappy Dispute with the Mother Country," and urges a form of Union with great Britain. The late measures in Parliament, he writes, constitute proof of Britain's intention to "draw a Revenue from the Subject in America without his Consent"; this will affect "every British American colony," and every possible measure must be taken "to obtain that relief which our Rights as English Subjects entitle us to demand." For this, "the American Legislatures, in which the people are constitutionally represented," must determine the course of action, and "we earnestly hope and recommend that the great Cause of American Rights may be left to the...representatives of the People in every Colony." Since "we are in a state of society in which Order, Reason and Policy ought to prevail, every Measure which can only serve to irritate and not convince, every Act of Violence...should be carefully avoided. A Congress of delegates...appears...the first proper Step to be taken." This Congress might be able "by their united Wisdom, to ascertain our Rights, and establish a political Union between the two Countries...which would secure to Americans their future Rights and Privileges. Anything short of this will leave the Colonies in their present precarious State, disunited among themselves, unsettled in their Rights...and destitute of their Connection with Great-Britain which is indispensably necessary to the safety and happiness of both..."
Galloway, a Philadelphia lawyer and friend of Benjamin Franklin, served in the Assembly (1757-1774) and was a member of the Committee of Correspondence. His letter is an apparent movet to garner support for the Plan of Union submitted by him to the First Continental Congress in September, two months later; it was rejected by Congress by a single vote. When hostilities broke out, Galloway declared himself a Tory and during the British occupation of Philadelphia served as civil governor.