Why Are Lengthy Bureaucratic Procedures Referred to as Red Tape?

Navigating the maze of governmental bureaucracy often leads one to use the term red tape, a symbol of the administrative struggle faced. This phrase conjures up vivid images—perhaps you imagine yourself trying to slice through endless strands of red tape with a tiny pair of scissors, or maybe you're envisioning a heist movie scene where a nimble thief avoids lasers while trying to sneak through a similarly complex web.

Thanks to a famous speech by President Bartlet on The West Wing, many believe the term was coined after the Civil War. He mentions that veterans' records were bound in red tape, and the drawn-out process of claiming pensions led to the term becoming a metaphor for cumbersome bureaucracy.

However, while Civil War documents were indeed wrapped in red, the practice dates back much further—at least two centuries before. It is believed to have started during the reign of King Charles V of Spain in the 1500s. At the time, important documents were tied with red ribbon to signal their significance. Red was not only more noticeable than the plain white cloth used for other documents, but it was also far more expensive.

In his book The People’s Government, Del Dickson notes that the practice soon spread to England, where even Henry VIII used red ribbon to bind his numerous petitions to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. References to official documents wrapped in red tape appear throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, and Charles Dickens adopted the term figuratively in 1850’s David Copperfield to describe the tedious parliamentary processes in Britain.

“Britannia, that ill-fated lady, constantly presents herself before me, like a chicken ready for roasting,” Dickens wrote, “pierced through with pens from the office, and securely bound with red tape.”

Given the colonies' strong ties to Britain, it's no surprise that the practice was brought over. Indeed, Britain’s notorious Stamp Act of 1765—which sparked protests of “no taxation without representation” and contributed to the American Revolution—was initially secured with red tape. When the United States formed its own government, officials continued the tradition, using red twill, ribbons, and other materials to mark important documents.

It’s plausible that the expression red tape as a metaphor for convoluted bureaucratic processes became more prevalent in the U.S. following the Civil War, as many citizens personally navigated these challenges. However, considering Dickens’s imaginative depiction of Great Britain, it seems likely that complaints about red tape existed well before the late 1860s.