No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

The Third Amendment was introduced in Congress in 1789 by James Madison as a part of the United States Bill of Rights, in response to Anti-Federalist objections to the new Constitution. Congress proposed the amendment to the states on September 28, 1789, and by December 15, 1791, the necessary three-quarters of the states had ratified it. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson announced the adoption of the amendment on March 1, 1792.

The Third Amendment is among the least cited sections of the U.S. Constitution. In the words of Encyclopædia Britannica, “as the history of the country progressed with little conflict on American soil, the amendment has had little occasion to be invoked.”

To date, no major Supreme Court decision has used the amendment as its primary basis.