27 Grievances of the Declaration of Independence

26. He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

British Navy practicing piracy on the seas; colonists taken on the seas must kill their family and friends to have their lives spared

19. For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

Colonists accused of a crime must have their trail in England

9. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

Judges hired, paid, and fired by the King

21. For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

King abolished colonial charters

13. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

King and Parliament pretended to represent the colonists

27. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

King armed Indians to attack the colonists

16. For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

King cut off colonial trade with the rest of the world

8. He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

King dissolved colonial courts

5. He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

King dissolved the colonial legislature

20. For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

King encouraged Canada to attack the colonies

24. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

King has authorized destruction of colonial land

23. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

King has waged war on the colonies

7. He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

King restricted immigration to the colonies and raised property taxes

25. He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

King sent German Hessians to ruthlessly kill the colonists

15. For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

Mock trials for soldiers accused of murder

10. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

New soldiers sent to harass the colonists

18. For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

No trial by jury

6. He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

Once dissolved, no new colonial legislatures were formed = no new laws = leaving colonies in danger

4. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

Parliament is only held in England, to discourage/fatigue colonists

14. For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

Quartering of soldiers

12. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

Soldiers are above the law and system of justice

11. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

Standing army in peace time without the consent of colonial legislatures

17. For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

Taxation without representation

22. For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

The King and Parliament have legislated for colonists without their representation

2. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

The King wouldn't let the Governors pass laws

1. He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

The King wouldn't pass laws

3. He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

The King wouldn't pass laws unless colonists gave up their rights to representation