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On September 17, 1796, George Washington sent out his farewell address that stated he will not run for a third-term. Doing this, Washington hoped to prevent future presidents of overstaying their time and limiting their own power. This would set up a 150 year tradition of two-term presidencies. This directly affected the ratification of the 22nd Amendment which limited presidents to two terms. -
After Jefferson's 2nd term he decides to honor Washington's two term limit, denying the 3rd term. This implanted the idea of a 2 term limit without having a constitutional amendment. -
Franklin D. Roosevelt is Inaugurated for his 4th term after serving since 1933. He served through the Great Depression and WWll as the president of the United States. This brought many concerns to lawmakers after he broke George Washington's informal two-term example. This was the starting point of the future 22nd Amendment. -
On April 12, 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt passed away while in office due to a cerebral hemorrhage. After his death, the subject was extremely controversial between many lawmakers and people across the country. Citizens across the nation saw this as a problem and wanted to prevent future presidents from serving more than two-terms. After this event it quickened the process of the ratification of the 22nd amendment -
On March 21, 1947, congress proposed the 22nd amendment two years after FDR's death. The amendment stated that a President can serve up to two full terms or ten years. -
The Ratification of the 22nd Amendment was established on February 27, 1951. In the Amendment it states, "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 President more than once." This prevented Presidents from serving more than two-terms and breaking Washington's Unwritten rule. -
Eisenhower was the first president to be directly effected by the 22nd amendment. Because the amendment didn't apply to the president (Harry Truman) who was the sitting president at the time of ratification. Many thought he would apply for a third term after he was elected for a second term. The public took notice of this because he was a very popular president at the time. -
In 1956, only 5 years after the amendment was ratified, a Repeal was proposed to get rid of it. There have been many proposals that have wanted to get rid of it or change it. -
As Ronald Reagan left office, some in Congress and people from the public pushed for a Repeal of the amendment.The repeal didn’t make it very far in Congress, but it grasped a ton of media attention and sparked public discussion. This showed how presidents can look back on the amendment depending how popular they were. -
During a speech in 2018, President Donald Trump joked about potentially serving more than two terms after he praised China’s leader for abolishing term limits. Even though he was joking this still makes people wonder whether or not the amendment is a democratic safeguard.