E LISHA R AYMOND C HAPTER , S ONS
OF THE
A MERICAN R EVOLUTION
PATRIOT PAPER
Volume 15, Number 1 January-February 2015
From the Chapter President
Compatriots,
2015 is here, and the Officers
have been installed at the January meeting.
Above: Scroll copy of the Third Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. This
amendment is in the first Ten Amendments, which are collectively known as
the “Bill of Rights”.
Below and Page 2: The origins of why the Third Amendment came into being.
P URPOSE OF THE Q UARTERING A CT OF 1765
The Quartering Act of 1765 was an addendum to that year's yearly Mutiny
Act which governed the armed forces. The Mutiny Act of 1765 provided that
Great Britain would provide barracks or public housing to its troops. The addendum
required that the colonists pay for many of the expenses of the British troops living
in the colonies, such as for food, housing, ammunition, firewood, beer, fuel, cooking items, etc. If there was not enough public housing available, then "inns, livery
stables, ale houses, victualing houses, and the houses of sellers of wine and houses of persons selling of rum, brandy, strong water, cider or metheglin," could be
confiscated and used.
The Quartering Act was to be renewed every two years and in 1769, an addition
was made that would provide other buildings such as barns, outhouses and uninhabited houses, if more space was needed for the troops. The problem was that all
of these buildings were private property. It is a popular misconception that British
troops were allowed to confiscate private homes as a result of the Quartering Act.
Instead, they were allowed to use restaurants, inns, bars and the like, and barns
and other buildings if necessary, but not homes. Of course, the colonists didn't like
their private property being used against their will. Not only did the colonies have to
provide the facilities, they had to pay for everything too, which is exactly why the
colonists refused.
The Elisha Raymond Chapter
has officially been placed on
the IRS able to receive tax deductible donations list. A
Form 990-N e postcard verifying the Chapter has less than
$50,000 in the treasury has
been submitted. We are covered through 2014, and all we
need to do each January to
keep current as a 501c3 organization is to submit the 990-N.
If any of you wish to make
donations, or have family or
friends who wish to support
our cause, I have printed
forms for them to use at tax
time to make sure their donation is deducted.
Submitted on behalf of Chapter President, Jeff Burdick.
Fraternally,
Brian D. McManus
Chapter Secretary
P AGE 2
PATRIOT PAPER
T HE COLONISTS ' RESPONSE TO THE Q UARTERING A CT OF 1765
The colonists were wary of standing armies which they believed could easily be turned into instruments of oppression. After the French and Indian War, which they did help to pay for, the colonists felt that a standing army
was no longer necessary. They wanted the British troops to go back home. They believed they could take care of
themselves if the Indians provided further threat.
They also believed it was unjust to ask them to pay for the expenses of the British soldiers. They had no representatives in Parliament so they believed it was wrong for Parliament to pass any taxes on them. It was an age
old principle of English law that taxation without representation was tyrannical.
The Quartering Act forced them to pay a tax for providing for British troops... and they had no say in it. How was
this any different from the Stamp Act, which they had recently rebelled against? And the idea that the government could take their inn or their barn and put people in it, without their say in the matter? All this just caused the
colonists to stiffen their necks against England even more.
Most of the colonies resisted the Quartering Act of 1765, but the resistance turned out to be strongest in New
York. New York had passed a bill providing for the needs of the troops immediately after the French and Indian
War, but as time went on and the peace prevailed, they began to have a change of mind. The reason for this was
mostly because New York City had the largest and busiest port where more British soldiers were coming and going. This put a larger burden on the New York Assembly and the citizens of New York to pay for housing and
feeding all of these troops than was experienced by the other colonies. The citizens reasoned that there was no
threat any more and they didn't believe it was necessary to provide such a large standing army any longer.
1500 troops arrived in New York City in January, 1766 and the New York Assembly refused to comply with the
Act at all. There was no where for the troops to stay and they ended up staying on their own ships. There was
great pressure on the Provincial Assembly from both sides and one colonist was killed when a riot broke out.
Parliament responded by passing the New York Restraining Act in July 1767, which suspended the Governor
and the legislature from any further activities until they agreed to pay for the troops. New York merchants responded with a boycott of British goods.
The New York Restraining Act was never fully enforced though because the Assembly finally relented and
agreed to pay for some of the expenses, though not all. In doing so, the New York Assembly still did not recognize Parliament's authority to tax because they didn't even mention the Quartering Act in their bill. They merely
passed a bill providing some expenses for the troops. They also put out a statement declaring that Parliament
had no authority to suspend their legislature. In Massachusetts, the only government barracks were on Castle
Island in Boston Harbor. This was too far from the city for the troops to adequately control the rebellious Bostonians. Instead, in keeping with the Quartering Acts' directives, the troops were forced to commandeer the Boston
Common, which was a large green public space in the center of town. The soldiers pitched their tents on the
Common for several years. .The close quarters in the city led to numerous skirmishes and flared tempers between soldiers and citizens. This eventually culminated in the Boston Massacre in 1770, in which several colonists were killed after taunting soldiers who were afraid for their own safety. The trial of those soldiers led to the
rise of John Adams as a patriot leader. New York and Pennsylvania ended up being the only colonies who actually complied with the Quartering Act. All the others wiggled and wrangled their way out of it and it finally expired
on March 24, 1767, only to be renewed every two years, with major changes in the Quartering Act of 1774.
UPCOMING CHAPTER EVENTS
April 19– Patriot Day commemorating the start of the Revolutionary War, April 19 1775.
May 4 -Chapter Meeting 6 PM Driftwood Restaurant
Please send comments, suggestions, articles, and information to Brian McManus, 27327
Lemays Ct. Wind Lake WI 53185 or to bmcmanus1@wi.rr.com
414-852-9015