History of Term Limits
By Ruth McLatchie
Term limits are an ancient idea that sprung from the democracies of Athens and Sparta and the Roman Republic. In the beginning of the United States Constitution, term limits were left out despite arguments for them by classically educated founders like Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin.
After the Constitution was first ratified, there was an informal tradition that no President serve more than two terms. The tradition was broken by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President during the Second World War, whose fourth term ended in his death from natural causes in 1945. As a result of this experience, Congress and the people of the United States decided that the two-term tradition needed to be codified, which it was in 1951 with the adoption of the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Along the way, we also acquired term limits for other political office holders and judges. That acquisition was piecemeal, and movements toward more comprehensive term limits continue to be discussed into the present.
Keep Cool and Think It Out
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