Quartering of troops is no longer an issue for Americans, but the privacy of their homes from government intrusion certainly is. Your home is your most important physical possession.
The Third Amendment establishes the larger principle that civilian authority supersedes military authority. There are places the government may not go. The post world has blurred the line between police and the military. Police officers now resemble the movie character RoboCop.
This act went beyond the earlier statute by authorizing the royal governors to order the billeting of soldiers in private homes if the colonists refused to provide other lodging. In its Declaration and Resolves on October 14, , Congress protested the presence in a time of peace of a standing army and the quartering of troops in the colonies without their consent. There was nothing new about the Third Amendment; it simply declared what had become conventional American wisdom.
Could British troops evict colonists from their homes, eat their food and use their facilities? Amendment 3 Collapse Text Menu No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Amendment 3. The Third Amendment by Gordon S. Wood Alva O. Afterward, many of these soldiers continued to live as a standing army in the 13 colonies. In , the British Parliament passed a Quartering Act requiring the colonies to feed and house these soldiers. This act was unpopular in the colonies, especially after the Boston Massacre in which British troops fired on a crowd and killed five people. This quartering was among the grievances Thomas Jefferson listed in the Declaration of Independence.
After the American Revolution , the constitutional framers debated whether the United States should even have a standing army. But, over time, that would change. People today read the Third Amendment and wonder why soldiers would ever be quartered in their homes when we have plenty of military bases with base housing and barracks.
However, back in the 18th Century, the quartering of troops in private homes was a serious issue. It was one of the sparks that ignited the American Revolution. Historically, the British people had a deep-rooted fear of standing armies.
They feared having soldiers quartered together in barracks away from the general public, and they thought a standing army would lead to a military take-over of the government. The British believed it was safer to quarter troops in inns, ale houses, and in private homes, keeping them among the civilian population. Yet, at the same time, they resented having soldiers living with their families, in their private homes.
The issue came to a head during the Glorious Revolution of , and Parliament passed a law that soldiers could not be quartered in the homes of British citizens without their consent.
However, the law did not apply to British colonies. The first American protests over billeting of troops came during the French and Indian War. The British housed thousands of soldiers in American homes. When the war ended in , the British deemed it prudent to keep a significant military presence in the colonies.
In , Parliament passed a Quartering Act that set out its plan for housing soldiers in the Americas. It was up to the colonists to provide barracks or other suitable housing for the troops. They were also responsible for feeding the soldiers, providing bedding, firewood, beer and other necessities.
The law was not popular in the colonies. Americans were accustomed to using trained militia to defend themselves. The militia was comprised of local men who went home at the end of the fight and provided for their own necessities.
The colonists were extremely distrustful of a standing British army in their midst. In , royal troops were dispatched to Boston.
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