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Doc of the Day: The Quartering Act
03/24/10
On March 24, 1765, the British Parliament passed the Quartering Act, which required the American colonies to provide for the basic needs of the British troops stationed there. The act met with staunch resistance in America, where it was viewed as an unacceptable assertion of British authority.
Great Britain had built up its military strength in North America during the French and Indian War (1754-63). Once the war ended, parliament decided that the American colonies should share in the cost of maintaining the armies that had been sent to their defense. The Quartering Act directed each of the 13 colonial assemblies to appropriate funds to provide food, cooking utensils, firewood, candles, and housing for the British soldiers stationed within their borders.
Colonial leaders, however, felt that they no longer faced a threat and wanted the British troops withdrawn. They argued that the Quartering Act violated an earlier act of parliament that forbade the keeping of standing armies during peacetime. Many Americans believed that the real reason for the continued presence of British troops was to keep the colonies in line and enforce unpopular laws like the Stamp Act (a tax on paper that had been passed a short time earlier). Colonial resistance to the Quartering Act contributed to the escalating tensions that eventually erupted into the Revolutionary War.