The third amendment

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Stephanie Englar
  • 14th Flying Training Public Affairs
COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. --  The Third Amendment was part of the 12 amendments sent by the states to the First Congress, and one of the ten amendments ratified in 1791. The amendment guarantees that the government cannot board troops in privately owned houses, without the owner's consent.

Before the American Revolution, the British parliament passed two separate Quartering Acts. The first came in 1765, and it required the Americans to pay for the British soldiers living on their land. It also stated that if the local barracks were over capacity, the Americans had to provide quarters in stables, inns, and alehouses.

The Quartering Act of 1775 was passed in retaliation to the Boston Tea Party. It stated that not only can troops be housed in the previously required buildings but also in private homes.

While debating the ratification of the Constitution, it was Patrick Henry who said, "One of our first complaints, under the former government, was the quartering of troops among us. This was one of the principal reasons for dissolving the connection with Great Britain."

Henry continued by saying, "Here we may have troops in time of peace. They may be billeted in any manner -- to tyrannize, oppress, and crush us."

During the time before the American Revolution and the numbers of soldiers living in private homes, the Americans felt it was highly important after the succession from Britain that one of the Amendments put in the Bill of Rights would disallow soldiers from living in private homes.

To this day, militias may not be quartered in private homes. Since its creation, the Third Amendment has seen the least amount of court time as well. In fact, only one major court case has actually confronted the meaning of the amendment in the 222 years of its existence. That court case was Engblom v. Carey, which occurred in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in the early 1980's.

In the case of Engblom v. Carey, Engblom was a guard in the New York State prison who lived in a home provided by the prison. When she and the other guards went on strike, the State called in the National Guard to cover their positions in guarding the prison. The prison guards were evicted from their homes due to the strike and those homes were used to house the National Guardsmen.

Engblom sued the state, claiming that it violated the Third Amendment ban on quartering soldiers in private homes without the owner's consent.

The U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Engblom, claiming it was illegal for the Guardsmen to be quartered in the prison guards home, even though the State unsuccessfully argued that Engblom was evicted and no longer had that Third Amendment right.

Today as in the late 1990's, the Third Amendment allows the people the freedom of not having troops stationed in their private homes without consent.