Amendment, Third

Amendment to the US Constitution that sets conditions for the quartering of soldiers. Part of the Bill of Rights, it was ratified in 1791.

The amendment was created as a reaction against the British Quartering Acts that forced Americans to provide food, housing, fuel, and transportation to British troops stationed in their areas. The second of these acts became one of the ‘Intolerable Acts’ that helped cause the American Revolution.

The Third Amendment is rarely cited in federal legal cases.