The Declaration of Independence contains 27 grievances against King George III.
These complaints form the indictment section of the document. They accuse the king of actions such as obstructing colonial justice, maintaining standing armies, interfering with colonial legislatures, restricting trade, and imposing taxes without consent.
The grievances were intended to justify the colonies’ decision to dissolve their political relationship with Great Britain. The Declaration therefore combines a philosophical argument about rights with a detailed political case against royal rule.
Readers sometimes remember the document mainly for its opening principles, including the assertion that all people are created equal. Those ideas are important, but the Declaration’s middle section is also a structured list of specific accusations. Counting the separate complaints produces the commonly cited total of 27.