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George Washington was an American Revolution War hero, who served the nations first two terms as the President. He spent a majority of his first term setting up the government, and defining the roles of the president. After debating retirement Washington was unanimously elected once again as president. With political parties on the verge of creation Washington desperately tried to keep the new nation together. He feared once political parties were created it would split the country apart.
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President John Adams offers Washington the Chief Officer position in the Untied States Army, knowing there could be a conflict with the French. A year after accepting the job, Washington is urged to serve a third term as President. His former military secretary during the Revolution, Jonathan Trumbull Jr, wrote a letter stating he was afraid of what a new president would bring. Washington denied the third term as President, claiming he didn't want to seek unfair power as a government official.
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Ulysses S. Grant, an American War General during the Civil War, became the 18th President of the United States. Grant served two terms trying to get rid of the lasting effects slavery had on American. After his two terms were up Grant began to run for a third term as President in 1880. By doing this he broke the unwritten rule that no one person should run for more than two terms as president.
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Franklin D. Roosevelt, also FDR, became president a few years after the Great Depression. During the FDR's term WWII began and became a rallying point for FDR to be elected again. He became the first and only president to serve more than two terms. Roosevelt didn't only win three terms he won a fourth term, but died in office. Vice President Harry S. Truman would take over the President spot.
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After winning his third term as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt really upset the Republicans. While the FDR was President America went through two of its toughest times as a country. Pulling us through the Great Depression, and eventually helping the Allies defeat Nazi Germany in WWII. The Nation grew fond of FDR and elected him for a fourth term as President of the United States, this was the last straw for Republicans.
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A Republican led Congress proposed a new amendment to the Consitutuion. The amendment stated that no president should serve more than two terms. The American people realized that having a president serve more than two, four years terms was bad for the government.
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From the time the 22nd amendment was proposed it took nearly four years for the amendment to be ratified. At the time 3/4 of all states needed to ratify the amendment. 18 states ratified it in the first few months after the amendment was proposed. It took almost three more years for 18 more states to ratify the amendment. It only took 36 states to ratify the amendment because Alaska and Hawaii were not states yet.
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After the amendment was put into place the first president to question a third term was President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Eisenhower was denied his third term, but left strong suggestions for what the United States Government and Congress should do in the future.
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When John F. Kennedy was assassinated, Lyndon B. Johnson was Vice President. When he took over as president there was only a few months left of the term. Since he only served a few months he was able to run for an unofficial third term, since his first time as president wasn't technically under his term. Johnson decided against running for his third term.
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Ronald Reagan was the first president to push to repeal the 22nd amendment. He said it limited the power of the presidency. He claimed that eight years was not enough for one president to get anything good done for the country. He mentioned repealing the amendment multiple times, but no action was ever taken and the 22nd Amendment remains in place to this day.
