Joseph Galloway (1731—August 29, 1803[1]) was an American attorney and a leading political figure in the events immediately preceding the founding of the United States in the late 18th-century.

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.

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.

[1] In 1774, Galloway led the Pennsylvania delegation in the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia, where as a conservative he proposed a plan for forming a union between the colonies and Great Britain.

[4][3] After the Congress failed to adopt his Plan of Union, he signed the Continental Association, an agreement uniting the colonies in a boycott of British goods.

[2] As a top advisor to William Howe, the commander-in-chief of British forces in North America, he provided crucial intelligence, assisted in planning attacks on Continental Army troops, and personally recruited upwards of 80 spies.

[5][3] When the British abandoned Philadelphia in June 1778, Galloway escaped to England and was convicted of high treason in absentia by the Pennsylvania Assembly; his estates were confiscated.

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.

[12] 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.

When Benjamin Franklin departed for France in 1776, he left behind a chest of his papers, containing letters and manuscripts, and entrusted them to Galloway for safe keeping in his personal residence, Trevose Manor, just north of Philadelphia.