[{"command":"add_css","data":[{"rel":"stylesheet","media":"all","href":"\/sites\/default\/files\/css\/css_veuEhhb1658wti0_ZAig66JOyixENU-N9zhjLQSLfOQ.css?delta=0\u0026language=en\u0026theme=heritage_theme\u0026include=eJwrTi1LzdNPzkksLq7Uy8tPSQUAPMsGtA"}]},{"command":"invoke","selector":null,"method":"openEssay","args":["10000076","\n\n\u003Carticle about=\u0022\/constitution\/articles\/2\/essays\/77\/presidential-term\u0022 class=\u0022node node--type-constitution-essay node--promoted node--view-mode-embedded clearfix\u0022\u003E\n  \u003Ch1 class=\u0022title\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EPresidential Term\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003C\/h1\u003E\n\n      \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-location\u0022\u003E\n      Article II, Section 1, Clause 1\n    \u003C\/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-context\u0022\u003E\n      \n            \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E[The President] shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years....\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n      \n    \u003C\/div\u003E\n      \n  \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-body\u0022\u003E\n    \n            \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBefore deciding on the length of the term of office for the president, the Framers of the Constitution debated whether, after a first term, the president was to be reappointed by the legislature or by the people. James Madison vehemently opposed reappointment by the legislature, arguing that the separation of powers was essential to the preservation of liberty: \u201cThe Executive could not be independent of the Legislature, if dependent on the pleasure of that branch for a re-appointment.\u201d If the president were thus beholden to the legislature, \u201ctyrannical laws may be made that they may be executed in a tyrannical manner.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EOn the other hand, the proposal to allow \u201cre-appointment by Legislature for good-behavior\u201d struck George Mason as allowing for too long a tenure. The phrase \u201cgood behavior\u201d indicated protected life tenure for judges. Thus, Mason worried, \u201cAn Executive during good behavior [is] a softer name only for an executive for life.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile debating whether the president should be reappointed by the Legislature, the Framers also discussed whether a president should be eligible for a second term at all. George Mason wanted a single term of seven years in order to avoid \u201ca temptation on the side of the executive to intrigue with the Legislature for a re-appointment.\u201d Some feared foreign intrigue in the reappointment of a president. But other Framers supported eligibility for more than one term. As Roger Sherman reasoned, there was no need of \u201cthrowing out of office the men best qualified to execute its duties.\u201d Gouverneur Morris argued that eligibility for more than one term would incite a president to merit public esteem with the hopes of reelection and would eliminate the risk of having a president use his short time in office to garner wealth and provide for friends. Alexander Hamilton adamantly argued that one of the keys to a successful executive is administrative stability, which would be best supported by a longer duration in office and would encourage a president to \u201cact his part well.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAfter removing the exclusion from more than a single term, the Framers turned to deter-mine how many years a given term would be (proposals ranged from three to twenty). Eventually, the Framers settled on four years. According to Justice Joseph Story in his \u003Cem\u003ECommentaries on the Constitution of the United States\u003C\/em\u003E (1833), the period of four years is not long enough to risk any harm to the public safety. Although some Anti-Federalists thought that four years was sufficient time for a president \u201cto ruin his country,\u201d Hamilton wrote in \u003Cem\u003EThe Federalist\u003C\/em\u003E No. 71 that duration in office is \u201crequisite to the energy of the executive authority\u201d and that a four-year term struck the proper balance, giving a president enough time \u201cto make the community sensible of the propriety of the measures he might incline to pursue\u201d and to not \u201cjustify any alarm for the public liberty.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EIt should be noted that the four-year limitation is absolute, and every president (no matter how disputed the election results may have been) has always turned the office over to his successor on the appointed day (January 20, after the ratification of the Twentieth Amendment). Nor has any president sought to have the election postponed because of a crisis. The election of 1864 went forward despite the Civil War, as did the election of 1944 despite World War II.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n      \n  \u003C\/div\u003E\n\n      \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--media\u0022\u003E\n              \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--photo\u0022 style=\u0022background-image: url(\/sites\/default\/files\/David_Forte.jpg)\u0022\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n            \u003C\/div\u003E\n      \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--info\u0022\u003E\n              \u003Ch4 class=\u0022con-essay-author--name\u0022\u003E\n                      \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/facultyprofile.csuohio.edu\/csufacultyprofile\/detail.cfm?FacultyID=D_FORTE\u0022\u003EDavid F. Forte\u003C\/a\u003E\n                  \u003C\/h4\u003E\n                  \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--job\u0022\u003E\n         Professor, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law\n      \u003C\/div\u003E\n            \u003C\/div\u003E\n    \u003C\/div\u003E\n\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-tabs\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cul data-tabs class=\u0022tabs\u0022\u003E\n        \u003Cli class=\u0022button-more thirds\u0022\u003E\u003Ca data-tab href=\u0022#node-10000076-taba\u0022\u003EFurther Reading\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n        \u003Cli class=\u0022button-more thirds\u0022\u003E\u003Ca data-tab href=\u0022#node-10000076-tabb\u0022\u003ECase Law\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n        \u003Cli class=\u0022button-more thirds\u0022\u003E\u003Ca data-tab href=\u0022#node-10000076-tabc\u0022\u003ERelated Essays\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n      \u003C\/ul\u003E\n\n      \u003Cdiv data-tabs-content\u003E\n        \u003Cdiv data-tabs-pane class=\u0022tabs-pane\u0022 id=\u0022node-10000076-taba\u0022\u003E\n          \n      \u003Cdiv\u003E\n              \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJack M. Beerman \u0026amp; William P. Marshall, The Constitutional Law of Presidential Transitions, 84 N.C. L. REV. 1253 (2006)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n          \u003C\/div\u003E\n  \n        \u003C\/div\u003E\n        \u003Cdiv data-tabs-pane class=\u0022tabs-pane\u0022 id=\u0022node-10000076-tabb\u0022\u003E\n          \n        \u003C\/div\u003E\n        \u003Cdiv data-tabs-pane class=\u0022tabs-pane\u0022 id=\u0022node-10000076-tabc\u0022\u003E\n                      \u003Ca href=\u0022\/essay_controller\/10000079\u0022 class=\u0022use-ajax\u0022\u003EElectoral College\u003C\/a\u003E\n                      \u003Ca href=\u0022\/essay_controller\/10000164\u0022 class=\u0022use-ajax\u0022\u003EElectoral College\u003C\/a\u003E\n                      \u003Ca href=\u0022\/essay_controller\/10000181\u0022 class=\u0022use-ajax\u0022\u003EPresidential Terms\u003C\/a\u003E\n                      \u003Ca href=\u0022\/essay_controller\/10000183\u0022 class=\u0022use-ajax\u0022\u003EPresidential Term Limit\u003C\/a\u003E\n                  \u003C\/div\u003E\n      \u003C\/div\u003E\n    \u003C\/div\u003E\n  \n\u003C\/article\u003E\n"]}]