So, do we REALLY need the 3rd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution?

To start with, let's see what the 3rd Amendment says:

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.

Okay ... so why the heck did our Founding Fathers think that they needed to worry about soldiers being quartered in peoples' homes?  Weren't there barracks on the military bases?  Well, actually, no, not only were there no barracks but there also weren't any military bases.  On top of that, when the original 13 states were British colonies, the British actually did quarter soldiers in private homes ... in fact, there were occasions when British officers decided to not only live in a home but to evict the home-owners and to take over the whole house.  So, yes, it seems that our Founding Fathers did have reason to be concerned about soldiers being quartered in private homes.

As with most, if not all, of the first ten amendments to the Constitution are based upon recent experiences with the British Crown.  So, as a condition to the Constitution being ratified, the various states and their representatives demanded protection of the individual rights.  Among others, Delaware put this provision in its Delaware Declaration of Rights in 1776.   British public had had some really bad experiences with "standing armies", i.e. armies that continued to exist even when there wasn't a war, and the colonists had had even worse experiences with the British troops that had been sent to protect and colonies.  This Amendment addresses one of the greatest fears that the colonists had with regard to the prospect of the newly formed government creating and maintaining a standing army.

When you stop and think about it, for exactly the same reason that you probably wondered why in the world the Founding Fathers felt compelled to add this amendment, it seemed to them like "common sense" to do so ... just to make sure that there was no question about this point.