What issue gave rise to the 22nd amendment

When the delegates could not agree on a solution, the question was referred to the Committee on Postponed Matters, which included Gouverneur Morris and James Madison. The Committee devised the Electoral College and a four-year term for the President with no term limits, among other important innovations.

These doubts about unlimited presidential terms of office did not fade away after President Washington set the unofficial two-term precedent in Scholar Stephen W. Stathis explains in a paper that Congress considered early versions of presidential term limit amendments in and , and the Senate approved term-limit resolutions in and , only to be rejected by the House.

Ames listed versions of presidential term limit amendments proposed to Congress between and The controversy over President Ulysses S. Stathis writes that by the time the 80th Congress convened in January , at least presidential term limit amendments had been proposed in the House or Senate. But that Congress would be unique in its action to get the amendment to a full vote and the two-thirds majority needed to pass it, thereby sending it to the states for ratification.

Bush's unpopularity amidst war and the stock market crash. Even George H. Bush trailed Michael Dukakis by 17 points in and won only after adopting aggressive tactics that were a departure from Ronald Reagan's more genteel style. Despite the inherent bias toward change in contests when presidents are term-limited, Clinton seemed poised to prevail on Election Day. Clinton turned in highly regarded debate performances in contrast to the more uneven ones of previous nominees like Gore and Nixon.

As a former First Lady, she also enjoyed a greater political standing and independence; Trump often disclaimed in the debates that Clinton was not necessarily responsible for all of the Obama Administration actions he criticized.

Indeed, Clinton had a considerable lead in the polls ten days prior to the election before her email controversy resurfaced and some voters flirting with a third party migrated to Trump. But Clinton also could not overcome the impetus for change that was strong enough to outweigh voters' negative perceptions of Trump's trustworthiness and temperament.

It is worth noting that the 22nd Amendment was passed by a Republican-led Congress in , before being ratified by the requisite number of states. They had seen their State legislatures dissolved by royal governors appointed by a king.

And they proposed that there should be no such usurpation of power in the Chief Executive they were about to create. And while they did not expressly prohibit reeligibility, they were not without the belief that the Electoral College, as they contemplated its operation, would provide an adequate check against perpetuation in office. Regardless of the inadequacies of the Electoral College, however, the principle of a limitation upon the Presidential tenure came to develop by tradition.

Even though it be contended that Mr. My opinion originally was that the President of the United States should have been elected for 7 years, and forever ineligible afterward. I have since become sensible that 7 years is too long to be irremovable, and that there should be a peaceable way of withdrawing a man in midway who is doing wrong.

The service for 8 years, with a power to remove at the end of the first four, comes nearly to my principle as corrected by experience; and it is in adherence to that that I determine to withdraw at the end of my second term. The danger is that the indulgence and attachments of the people will keep a man in the chair after he becomes a dotard, that reelection through life shall become habitual and election for life follow that. General Washington set the example of voluntary retirement after 8 years.

I shall follow it. And a few more precedents will oppose the obstacle of habit to anyone after a while who shall endeavor to extend his term.

Perhaps it may beget a disposition to establish it by an amendment of the Constitution. I would therefore recommend such an amendment of the Constitution as may remove all intermediate agency in the election of the President and Vice President. In connection with such an amendment it would seem advisable to limit the service of the Chief Magistrate to a single term of either 4 or 6 years. In his letter of August 18, , accepting the nomination for the Presidency, President Cleveland wrote:.

When we consider the patronage of this great office, the allurements of power, the temptations to retain public place once gained, and, more than all, the availability a party finds in an incumbent whom a horde of officeholders, with a zeal born of benefits received and fostered by the hope of favors yet to come, stand ready to aid with money and trained political service, we recognize in the eligibility of the President for reelection a most serious danger to that calm, deliberate, and intelligent political action which must characterize a government by the people.

And I would recall to my friends on the other side of the aisle that the Democratic National Convention, held in Baltimore, Md. We favor a single Presidential term and to that end urge the adoption of an amendment to the Constitution making the President of the United States ineligible for reelection, and we pledge the candidate of this convention to this principle. This historical feeling and tradition against unlimited tenure in the Presidential office, Mr. Chairman, is not based upon idle fear.

The power and prestige of the President of the United States has grown constantly and increasingly since the first inauguration of Mr. Today, the President of the United States is perhaps the most powerful individual in the world. It is within the spirit of democracy that proper constitutional restraints be placed upon his tenure of office. Cold War America. Sinews of Peace Iron Curtain. Inaugural Address. Gideon v. Declaration of Honorary Citizen of United States o Speech on the Challenger Disaster.

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It was one of recommendations to the U. Congress by the Hoover Commission, created by Pres. Harry S. Truman, to reorganize and reform the federal government. It was formally proposed by the U. Congress on March 24, , and was ratified on Feb. There is no clear indication that the decision to pursue the amendment was triggered by any single event or abuse of power.