Quarters: The Accommodation of the British Army and the Coming of the American Revolution

by John Gilbert McCurdy

When Americans declared independence in 1776, they cited King George III "for quartering large bodies of armed troops among us." In Quarters, John Gilbert McCurdy explores the social and political history behind charge, offering an authoritative account of the housing of British soldiers in America. Providing new interpretations and analysis of the Quartering Act of 1765, McCurdy sheds light on a misunderstood aspect of the American Revolution.

Quarters unearths the vivid debate in eighteenth-century America over the meaning of place. It asks why the previously uncontroversial act of accommodating soldiers in one's house became an unconstitutional act. In so doing, Quarters reveals new dimensions of the origins of Americans' right to privacy. It also traces the transformation of military geography in the lead up to independence, asking how barracks changed cities and how attempts to reorder the empire and the borderland led the colonists to imagine a new nation.

Quarters emphatically refutes the idea that the Quartering Act forced British soldiers in colonial houses, demonstrates the effectiveness of the Quartering Act at generating revenue, and examines aspects of the law long ignored, such as its application in the backcountry and its role in shaping Canadian provinces.

Above all, Quarters argues that the lessons of accommodating British troops outlasted the Revolutionary War, profoundly affecting American notions of place. McCurdy shows that the Quartering Act had significant ramifications, codified in the Third Amendment, for contemporary ideas of the home as a place of domestic privacy, the city as a place without troops, and a nation with a civilian-led military.

Genres: American Revolution, Nonfiction, American History, History

328 pages, Hardcover

First published June 15, 2019

Reviews

[Rahobeth Benson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great overview of how Parliament and King George III saw the responsibility of quartering Crowned Forces in the American colonies, how laws were crafted to impose these beliefs and the consequences that followed. This book does a great deal to explain the events and decisions that ultimately helped shape a mindset begrudging of Parliamentry rule and toward a "feeling" of independence.
It is a bit of an academic read but very well researched and well thought out. It will not explain the overall picture of independence, but it helps fill in the stories and experiences that led to Colonial legislatures to begin to oppose Parliament and then finally the Crown.

[Lissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent overview of how the idea of when and where troops should be quartered in America changed over the span of twenty years. The author has a bit of a dry tone at times, but the material is interesting, and I learned so much about how the Quartering Act came to be, what it was (and more importantly, what it wasn't), and why it made an appearance in the Bill of Rights. Great resource!

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

McCurdy does an excellent job of exposing the storyline of how the impact of quartering troops in British America had an impact on the events that eventually came to a boil as the American Revolution.

[Nicole (The Attic Historian) · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderfully readable work—This book was invaluable when I wrote a historiography of the Quartering Act. McCurdy packs a lot of information in, while writing in a way that didn't make my head want to explode.

[Glen McGlothin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well researched book that talks about something not quite as commonly brought up when discussing the American revolution. Makes one think about just how complex many of the factors that lead up to the revolution were.