Galloway's Plan of Union was a plan to politically unite

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

and its North American colonies. The plan was put forward by Loyalist

Joseph Galloway 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 bec ...

in the

First Continental Congress The First Continental Congress was a meeting of delegates from 12 of the 13 British colonies that became the United States. It met from September 5 to October 26, 1774, at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after the British Navy ...

of 1774 but was rejected. Galloway was a

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

delegate who wanted to keep the

Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of Kingdom of Great Britain, British Colony, colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Fo ...

in the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

General

Galloway suggested the creation of an American colonial

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

to act together with the

Parliament of Great Britain The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a new unified Kingdo ...

. The Grand Council would have to give formal consent to the latter's decisions, particularly on trade and taxation, thus giving it a

veto A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president or monarch vetoes a bill to stop it from becoming law. In many countries, veto powers are established in the country's constitution. Veto ...

.R Tucker, ''The Fall of the British Empire'' (London 1982) p. 335 The Colonial Parliament would consist of a President-General appointed by

the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

and delegates appointed by the colonial assemblies for three-year terms. The plan would have kept the British Empire together and allow the colonies to have some say over their own affairs, including the inflammatory issue of taxation. Galloway's Plan of Union was narrowly defeated by a vote of six to five on October 22, 1774. The appearance of the Suffolk Resolves at the Congress led to a polarization of discussion, with the radicals swiftly gaining the upper hand.

Galloway and Albany Plans

The proposed Galloway Plan bore striking resemblance to the

Albany Plan The Albany Plan of Union was a rejected plan to create a unified government for the Thirteen Colonies at the Albany Congress on July 10, 1754 in Albany, New York. The plan was suggested by Benjamin Franklin, then a senior leader (age 48) and a del ...

, a proposal by Galloway's fellow Pennsylvania delegate (and active correspondent)

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

at the

Albany Congress The Albany Congress (June 19 – July 11, 1754), also known as the Albany Convention of 1754, was a meeting of representatives sent by the legislatures of seven of the 13 British colonies in British America: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, ...

in July 1754 to create a unified government for the Thirteen Colonies. The Albany Plan went beyond the original scope of the Albany Congress, which was to develop a plan of defense for the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

Aftermath

Although as a delegate to the Continental Congress Galloway was a moderate, when his Plan of Union (despite its removal of British Parliamentary sovereignty) was rejected, Galloway moved increasingly towards

Loyalism Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British C ...

. 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 accepted American independence as part of the

Peace of Paris (1783) The Peace of Paris of 1783 was the set of treaties that ended the American Revolutionary War. On 3 September 1783, representatives of King George III of Great Britain signed a treaty in Paris with representatives of the United States of America� ...

, many Loyalists went into forced exile,J Black, ''Crisis of Empire'' (New York 2008) p. 177 and Galloway permanently settled in Britain.

References

External links

Original text of Galloway's Plan of Union
{{Authority control
"A candid examination of the mutual claims of Great-Britain, and the Colonies, with a plan of accommodation on constitutional principles," by Joseph Galloway
1774 in politics 1774 in the Thirteen Colonies Continental Congress Proposed countries