This is why the 3rd amendment was so crucial for a post-Revolution US

The interesting thing about quartering of troops on the civilian populace is that the British Army did it throughout the 18th century. Reason: Lack of barracks and military bases. There were a few bases and barracks - Edinburgh Castle, barracks in London - but in the rest of Britain and Ireland there were no places to billet troops. The custom was for British battalions to split up, with companies and platoons assigned to various towns and villages, where contracts were negotiated with homeowners and publicans to billet troops for a fixed price. The owners provided the troops with food and sleeping space, in return for which they were paid cash by the Army. The owners had recourse to seek redress if the troops misbehaved or took more than they were allowed to have. This worked out pretty well, although some avaricious owners did not like it. But they participated, even if they thought they were not making enough money for quartering troops because they were getting some money for it. In the summer, British troops reassembled as a battalion for training and lived under canvas in rented fields. In America, British troops were not present until the French and Indian War (1755-1763). During this period, British troops were quartered by home owners/publicans under the same terms as in Britain. Mostly, there were no problems, although the 77th Highlanders ran into trouble in Lancaster PA in the winter of 1758-59 when the locals tried charging too much for food and liquor and the troops rioted. The problems came when the British Army tried quartering troops after the F&I War and the locals wanted too much money. Ergo the various acts to set arbitrary prices and conditions on American homeowners and publicans, who did not want to participate if they were not making the money they thought they should be making. In the eyes of the British Army, they were greedy and disloyal. So, it was all a big misunderstanding, with the angry Americans coming out on the short end. Ergo, the Third Amendment after they won the American Revolution. The British Army continued quartering troops with no problems in Britain, Ireland and other British possessions until barracks were built in the early 19th century. Now you know the rest of the story...

Interesting piece....