"Quite" American vs British English

Mari-Lou A asked Dan if he could provide dated evidence of a usage of 'quite' in the form: _'..quite 50 people.' Here are a couple.

From 'The Missionary Herald at Home and Abroad Vol 51 from 1855:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/ojz24nf

And James Fennimore Cooper's 'Wynadotte' from 1800:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/or7wonw

My own little theory is that 'quite' is derived from 'quit' (which the OED happily asserts without further comment), and that 'quit' in its original Latin sense was a balancing or restoring of order to accounts or arrangements, either by keeping them in balance, or in closing them. Hence in former times to say 'quit' was to refer to some ledger or accounting system. 'Not quit fifty' simply means it hasn't added up to fifty, while 'quit fifty' meant that it had added up to fifty. Since the latter assertion usually didn't need confirmation or reinforcement the use of 'quit' or 'quite' wasn't called for, but if one was addressing a doubting audience one would say, 'Yes, quit fifty acres!', meaning 'Yes, and I've checked!'.