Presidential term of office
According to Article 2, Section 1, of the Constitution, the President serves a fixed four-year term. At the Constitutional Convention in 1787, the Virginia Plan with which the delegates began their work left blank the number of years the executive would serve but provided that the executive would be “ineligible a second time.” Then the committee of the whole, by a 5-to-4 vote, provided that the President would serve a seven-year term and be ineligible for reelection, rejecting an alternative idea for a three-year term with two reelections permitted. A later proposal by Alexander Hamilton to elect a “Supreme Governour” for a lifetime term was also rejected. Finally, the Committee on Postponed Matters decided on a provision for a four-year term, coupled with eligibility for reelection to an unlimited number of terms.
Until the election of 1936, Congress set the inaugural date for March 4. A lame-duck session of the previously elected Congress lasted from the November election through the following March and often included many defeated members of Congress. The lame-duck Congress was entitled to choose the President and Vice President in case of a deadlock in the electoral college. The Congress elected with the President did not meet until 14 months after the election–-unless the President called it into special session.
In 1933, when the 20th Amendment was ratified, this set the Presidential inaugural date for January 20, which shortened substantially the time between election and inauguration. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first President to be inaugurated under the new system, beginning his second term on January 20, 1937.
The 20th Amendment also provided that the newly elected Congress would meet on January 3 following the election, even before the President assumed office, thus shortening the lame-duck period of the previous Congress. Usually, the outgoing Congress has adjourned prior to the November election and does not come back into session. The new Congress chooses the President and Vice President in case of a deadlock in the electoral college.
The 22nd Amendment, ratified in 1951, provides that no person may be elected President more than twice.
See also Electoral college; Succession to the Presidency; 22nd Amendment; Two-term tradition
