You Can't Stay Here

Описание: Wait, the British government wants to tax us in order to pay for these soldiers to protect the frontier. Well, we're not so sure we want that either because we're supposed to be providing for our own defense through our own taxes.

And now all of a sudden not only are British soldiers here in the colony somewhere, they've been on the frontier, British government wants them in the towns. They want British soldiers in Boston.

We don't think we like that so much because what are these soldiers defending us from here? They're supposed to be defending us from incursions from natives and the French and now they're here in the town. So this was a big threat or perceived as a big threat. The colonists did not like having soldiers in among the people.

There is a misperception that the British government quartered soldiers in private homes in America. Huge misconception, they absolutely did not do that. Shows like "Turn" put a bad spin on things because they give this impression that quartering was done in a way that it you may not quarter soldiers in private homes. You can quarter them in public buildings. Governments can build barracks for them. You can put them in barns and outbuildings and vacant buildings, but not in private homes.

This meant that the expense of quartering the troops would be borne by the colonial governments, which meant that it would have to be paid for by taxes on the colonial people. So it was another form of taxation without representation that was causing the objections. Had nothing to do with soldiers being forced to stay in private homes. That was against the law. But the finances for quartering soldiers anywhere in America was to be borne by the colonial governments, which the colonial governments and the people wanted nothing to do with.

These acts were published in the newspapers. Anybody could read them and know exactly what the law said. And the colonists were very astute about understanding what the laws were. So at the time, quartering was an issue because of how it was financed.

Again, no colonists were concerned about soldiers staying in their homes. The misunderstanding comes, I think, from American histories of the revolution that just don't get this right. And you see it on articles and TV shows to this day where they give an implication that soldiers were being forced into people's houses. It just wasn't true.

Another thing to be careful about is the quartering acts that were an issue with the beginning of the American Revolution were all put in place before a war broke out. Once a war breaks out, all those rules go aside.

And both armies on both sides could put troops up wherever they needed to, wherever there was a war zone and troops needed housing. The Continental Army in some places put people into private homes and the British Army put people into private homes. Here in Newport, where we're sitting right now, British soldiers stayed in homes, but there were well over half the population had fled. So there were tons of abandoned homes in this town. There was no need to put up soldiers in homes that people were living in because there were plenty of empty houses all over the place.