Abolition Of The Twenty-Second Amendment Essay

After over 150 years of debate, the Twenty-second Amendment became a part of the Constitution on February 27, 1951, effectively deciding upon the long-standing question of the limitations of presidential tenure. When designing the executive branch of the government, there were very few details of which the founding fathers were sure. Among those details was the length of the term of the president and how many terms he would be eligible to serve. Even after the four-year term with unlimited eligibility was decided upon in the Constitution, many states still tried to change it at their ratifying Conventions. As this indicated, the debate over presidential term limits would not cease with the establishment of the United States Constitution. After the president, George Washington, stepped down after two-terms a precedent was set and later reaffirmed by Thomas Jefferson: the two-term tradition was established. It would be 150 years and thirty different successors before this tradition would be broken by President Franklin Roosevelt. After President Roosevelt’s death in his fourth term, the Twenty-second Amendment would be proposed in

Many of these arguments were the same ones made at the Constitutional Convention when the idea was first introduced and these arguments are still used today when considering the repeal of the Amendment. Each section contains an argument either in favor of or opposed to limiting the term so of Presidents, and in effect the Twenty-second Amendment. Alternatives to the established two-term limit of the Twenty-second Amendment will also be discussed. In considering all of the arguments discussed, I am of the opinion that the Twenty-Second Amendment is ineffective; a persuasive alternative would be the establishment of a rotation clause that would allow a president to serve a third term after a reasonable interval out of