By NCC Staff
As part of the National Constitution Center’s 27 Amendments (In 27 Days)
project, each day we will look at a constitutional amendment. Through
partnerships with leading scholars and universities, government
agencies, media outlets, and more, the National Constitution Center will
profile one amendment each day throughout the month of February.
Section 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 than two years of a term to which some other person was elected
President shall be elected to the office of the President more than
once. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office
of President, when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall
not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or
acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes
operative from holding the office of President or acting as President
during the remainder of such term.
Section 2. 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.
Synopsis:
George Washington established the
custom of presidents serving no longer than two terms. Following
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s election to third and fourth terms, this
amendment set a future limit at two terms.
Source: U.S. Senate
Resources:
1. The Library of Congress Constitution Annotated. Contains a detailed history of the amendment, along with past and recent court cases. Here is a link to the section on the 22nd Amendment.
2. Cornell Legal Information Institute. Includes information from Wex, a free legal dictionary and encyclopedia sponsored and hosted by the Legal Information Institute at the Cornell Law School. Wex entries are collaboratively created and edited by legal experts.
3. Take a look at other presidents who tried for a third term at: http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2013/07/fdrs-third-term-decision-and-the-22nd-amendment/
Learn more about this project at the Constitution Center’s website at: constitutioncenter.org/experience/programs-initiatives/27-amendments-in-27-days/
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