The Declaration of Independence lists twenty-seven grievances

 

Jayne Quick-to-See Smith, "I See Red"

Robert J. Miller has posted “The Declaration of Independence: ‘Merciless Indian Savages’ . . . and More” on SSRN.

Here is the abstract:

The Declaration of Independence lists twenty-seven grievances that the American colonies and colonists had against King George III and England, and that they argued justified independence from England.  Almost everyone is familiar with the allegation in grievance twenty-seven that the King “has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages. .. [and the] destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.”  But in contrast to that well-known and express reference to Indian Peoples, only a few scholars have noted and very few people understand that grievances seven, twenty, and twenty-one in the Declaration also involve Indian Nations and Peoples and their lands and assets.  These three grievances involved England and the American colonies contesting sovereign, property, economic, and territorial rights over the Indian Nations and their lands under the international law of colonialism, better known as the Doctrine of Discovery.  This Essay addresses and explains these grievances.