Grievance #10 of the Declaration of Independence
What happens when the government suddenly floods your town with officials and new rules?
In Grievance #10 of the Declaration of Independence, JJ Nattrass from George Washington University explains why colonists were frustrated by the growing number of British offices and officers sent to enforce imperial laws.
As Britain passed new measures like the Stamp Act and the Intolerable Acts, enforcement expanded across the colonies. More offices. More officials. More oversight.
To colonists, these “swarms of officers” felt intrusive and overwhelming. They collected taxes, enforced regulations, and inserted themselves into everyday life in ways many Americans had never experienced before.
This grievance wasn’t just about bureaucracy. Colonists believed British policies were threatening their livelihoods, freedoms, and ability to build lives on their own terms.
This is Part 10 of our 27-part series breaking down every grievance that led to the American Revolution, building toward Independence Day.
0:00 He has erected a multitude of new
0:02 offices and sent hither swarms of
0:05 officers to harass our people and eat
0:07 out their substance. So, let’s break
0:10 this down into its component pieces.
0:12 The first part about the multitude of
0:14 new offices refers to the administrative
0:16 bureaucracy that emerged as a result of
0:18 the coercive or intolerable acts. In
0:20 order to enforce, for example, the Stamp
0:22 Act, stamps had to be made available
0:24 throughout the colonies to give people a
0:27 chance at following the letter of the
0:28 law. In towns throughout the colonies,
0:30 offices and appointed officials appeared
0:33 in multitudes, or so the declaration
0:35 says. So, let’s keep moving through this
0:38 grievance. These swarms of officers were
0:41 an exaggeration, but it was meant to
0:42 describe the annoyance of these
0:44 officials who were buzzing around like
0:46 insects, um, around these colonists. The
0:49 harassment of the people that they
0:50 carried out, whether this was collecting
0:52 money from them, enforcing new
0:53 regulations, or interrupting, you know,
0:55 just daily life, was felt throughout
0:57 society, and that was very real. So, to
1:00 what end?
1:01 To eat out their substance. Here, the
1:03 substance can refer to a few different
1:05 aspects of colonial life. Many of these
1:07 new officials were revenue collectors.
1:10 So, they’re certainly drawing out the
1:12 financial substance of the American
1:14 colonies.
1:15 Substance can also be read as a way of
1:17 addressing, um, that these new offices
1:20 were interrupting the pursuit of
1:22 happiness in the colonies. The substance
1:24 of human life, the pursuit of happiness,
1:26 and the attempt at building and creating
1:28 a life which colonists could be proud of
1:30 was directly threatened by the actions
1:32 of the Crown here. So, even if swarms
1:35 may have been a
1:37 a rhetorical flourish, the colonists
1:39 were pointing to a direct threat against
1:41 their way of life and their dignity as
1:43 human beings through this 10th
1:45 grievance.
