Grievances against the King of England and Donald Trump
The list of grievances against the King of England, as it appears in the Declaration of Independence:
“The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
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.
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.
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.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
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.
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.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
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:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
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:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
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.
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.
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.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”
The same list in today's vernacular to make them easier to understand, we group them into 5 main categories:
The Declaration of Independence includes a list of 27 specific grievances directed at King George III. These charges were intended to prove that the King had acted as a tyrant, thereby justifying the colonies' decision to sever ties with the British Crown.
To make them easier to digest, historians often group these grievances into a few main categories:
1. Interference with Representative Government
The King was accused of undermining the colonists' ability to govern themselves.
Refusing to pass laws that were necessary for the public good.
Suspending legislatures and declaring himself invested with the power to legislate for the colonies in all cases.
Calling together legislative bodies at unusual and uncomfortable places to tire them into compliance with his mandates.
Dissolving representative houses repeatedly for opposing his invasions on the rights of the people.
2. Obstruction of Justice
The colonists felt the legal system had been weaponized against them or dismantled entirely.
Obstructing the Administration of Justice by refusing to assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.
Making judges dependent on his will alone for their jobs and their salaries.
Depriving colonists of the benefit of Trial by Jury in many cases.
Transporting colonists "beyond Seas" to be tried for pretended offenses.
3. Military Overreach and Harassment
One of the greatest points of tension was the presence and behavior of the British military.
Keeping standing armies among the colonies in times of peace without the consent of their legislatures.
Quartering large bodies of armed troops among the citizens.
Protecting soldiers from punishment through "mock Trials" for any murders they committed against colonists.
Making the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
4. Economic and Trade Restrictions
The Crown used economic policy as a means of control and revenue.
Cutting off trade with all parts of the world.
Imposing Taxes on us without our Consent (the famous "taxation without representation").
5. Acts of War and Incitement
The final grievances address the actual outbreak of violence and the King's response to the rebellion.
Plundering seas, ravaging coasts, and burning towns.
Hiring large armies of foreign mercenaries (Hessians) to "compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny."