How were the various terms and term limits for the President and others arrived at? Is there any record of debates conducted, of arguments or proposals that were made before they were settled upon initially and later ? What was the thinking behind two terms only ?

Back here there is no term limit for any leader; obviously the Queen is expected to die in office, which would certainly be a defect in a presidency ; but the de facto leader, the Prime Minister, continues until he or she is rejected by the electorate,sacked by their own party,their government loses on a House vote of no confidence, they retire or are assassinated (one only so far)or just die in office. So Tony Blair has been P.M. for some seven years and seems set to stay for years yet ;old battlers like Mrs Thatcher went on much longer (in her case until sacked by her own party). This is not seen to be a defect; if anything it's a virtue. Why should the people or the party be deprived of the leader they want, and would support in a ballot or the House, simply because of effluxion of time? It would mean removing someone who may be best at the job.

No doubt there are time- serving legislators there who never seem to leave, but how were their election terms hit upon ?

George Washington served 2 terms then stepped down. Others followed his lead for nearly two centuries (I don't think anyone had run for a third term, but I know no one had succeeded) until FDR successfully got a third and fourth term leading out of the great depression and into WWII. The 22nd amendment was passed because many (especially politicians in the other party ) disliked the idea of an permanent or entrenched president.

I imagine there was significant debate at the time, as an amendment is not an easy thing to pass, and there continues to be some debate now (including a call for a new amendment to repeal the old one), but my feel is that most people really don't consider this a pressing issue one way or the other.

Fred, in the late eighteenth century the United States was still debating having a president or some form of executive branch at all. After the American Revolution, the colonists wanted to distance themselves as far as possible from the monarchy style of government that they felt abused by under England. The Articles of Confederation served as our first government, under which all of the power was given to the legislature. Unfortunately this didn't work because the legislature couldn't garner up the authority to make anything work (for example the collection of taxes couldn't occur unless the states were willing to give up the money and a national military couldn't be organized unless the states sent volunteers).

The executive branch was seen as a very conservative reaction to the need for governmental reform and many colonists feared that the presidency would turn into a monarchy. As the first president, George Washington set many precedents which he hoped would be continued by further presidents which he felt would help to ease American fears, most of which have been ignored (like neutrality in international affairs, the absence of political parties, and a two-term presidency). It was the anger at Franklin Roosevelt for his indifference toward this tradition that drove the Congress to pass an amendment which limits the presidency to two terms.

quote:

---

Originally posted by FredPuli:
No doubt there are time- serving legislators there who never seem to leave, but how were their election terms hit upon ?

---

This was part of a compromise during the Constitutional Convention. Larger states wanted population-proportional representation in Congress while smaller states wanted each state to have a fixed number of representatives. The compromise was two houses, each equal in power yet often different in specific duties. The House of Representatives would have population-proportional representation and Congressmen would be elected every two years. The Senate would have a fixed number (2) of representatives and Senators would be elected every six years.

"It was the anger at Franklin Roosevelt for his indifference toward this tradition that drove the Congress to pass an amendment which limits the presidency to two terms." - Mkstfnz

The anger you describe was mostly on one side of the aisle. Of course, when that side had a popular president a few years later, some of that party wondered aloud if they had acted in haste. Since Roosevelt, the US has had 3 president who served 2 full terms. All three were popular, and near the end of the term of each one, and even after, there was talk of changing that amendment. The last two of those presidents spoke about it after each was out of office.

And, of course, we had one President elected to two terms - the second rather convincingly - who resigned from office!

Following is text from the 1st session of the 80th Congress, in 1947, found as an annotation regarding the 22nd amendment here.

"By reason of the lack of a positive expression upon the subject of the tenure of the office of President, and by reason of a well-defined custom which has risen in the past that no President should have more than two terms in that office, much discussion has resulted upon this subject. Hence it is the purpose of this . . . [proposal] . . . to submit this question to the people so they, by and through the recognized processes, may express their views upon this question, and if they shall so elect, they may . . . thereby set at rest this problem."

After a President serves two terms can he sit out a term and then run for one more term?

"After a President serves two terms can he sit out a term and then run for one more term?"

No, he cannot. He cannot even run for Vice President.* Once a President has served one full term and two years and one day of another term, he is Constitutionally barred from holding either office.

US Constitution

Amendment XXII - Limiting presidential terms of office

Passed by Congress March 21, 1947. Ratified February 27, 1951.

1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more that two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of President more than once.

2. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this Article was proposed by Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.

3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission to the States by the Congress.
--------
The Republican Party was the force behind this Amendment, not wanting another Roosevelt. Of course, near the end of Eisenhower's second term, some of them wanted to chjange the Constitution back, allowing Eisenhower to run.
from Wikipedia -
Former U.S. president Bill Clinton has recently voiced his opinion in favor of modifications to the 22nd Amendment. According to President Clinton, former presidents who have already served two terms should be allowed to run for the office again, after some interim period has passed. He reasoned the country may wish to trust leadership onto an already tried and proven candidate in times of great need. Sherman Adams quotes Dwight Eisenhower expressing in a press conference his strong opposition to term limits: "The United States ought to be able to choose for its President anybody it wants, regardless of the number of terms he has served" ("First Hand Report", 1961, p. 296). After leaving office, Ronald Reagan also publicly supported repealing the amendment. Clinton, Eisenhower, and Reagan were all affected by the 22nd Amendment, as they all served two terms.**
--------
*Constitution of the United States : Article II

Section 1
4. No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.

Amendment XII - Manner of Choosing a President and Vice-President

Passed by Congress December 9, 1803. Ratified July 27, 1804.

Sec. 3. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such numbers be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States. (Bold mine- DG)
--------
The interpretation that this disqualifies a former President who has served at least two years and one day from being Vice President is not universal, but I suspect that it would take a very liberal court (or a very conservative one, depending on who wants to serve) to interpret it as allowing a former President to serve as Vice President. Those who do not belive that the Constitution does not prohibit this cite Amendment XXII, which deal with limiting Presidental terms. It does not specifically prohibit this from happening. Those who would oppose this, say that it isn't necessary to re-state what was in Amendment XII, since nothing in any other Amendment modified that section about qualifications for Vice President.

**For the record, I think that any elected national official has term limits written into the Constitution. Every four years, a President's term is up. If enough people feel that he deserves another term, why not allow him that term. I feel that Eisenhower, Reagan, and Clinton would have all served 3 terms had they been allowed to run.