The list of grievances is rather long. Some of these may seem weird, silly or unimportant with the context of our modern day.
By the time they wrote the Declaration they knew what they wanted in a government. Therefore some of these grievances are clear dereliction or abuses by the king as their sovereign, some of them are outright violations of the English Bill of Rights.
Each of them, however, provides a distinct example demonstrating that the king does not meet the rules of government that the Colonists have declared for themselves.
The Grievances: Examples of Complaints against King George III and their Associated Meaning
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has refused to enforce laws.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance.
He has forbidden the legislature to pass laws
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 refused to pass laws that would benefit particular states.
He expects that states will forfeit their right of representation.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records
He made it difficult for the colonists to participate in governance.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has forbidden laws to be passed that establish 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 denied judges their independence to make decisions based on case facts and the law alone.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has forced persons to house military personnel.
For imposing taxes on us without our Consent.
Taxed citizens without the citizens giving their approval.
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury.
Denying those accuse of crimes jury trials under circumstances that the colonists deemed appropriate.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
Refused to protect the colonists from foreign aggression on colonial lands.
For further reading, see PatriotsLine.com's The Declaration of Independence – The Grievances .