Former President Donald Trump has already had one term in office and if he wins this election it will be his second. So he can’t run again…right?
How presidential terms work might be a bit confusing since it has been so long since a president has lost a re-election bid after their first term, only to try for the seat again after four years. Essentially, it only allows a person to hold the highest office in the United States twice (which does not have to be consecutive) and not indefinitely.
The U.S. hasn’t always had them, but presidential term limits are not something new either. They have been around for more than 70 years.
Here’s a look at the ins and outs of presidential term limits and how long they have been around.
Is there anything in the Constitution about presidential term limits?
Yes, it is clearly outlined in the 22nd Amendment that a person serving as president can only hold the office twice. Here’s what it says:
“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.”
When did presidential term limits become part of the Constitution?
The 22nd Amendment was ratified in 1951, according to the National Constitution Center. The idea of term limits came about from Republicans after President Franklin D. Roosevelt won four consecutive elections. His presidency started in 1933 during the Great Depression and spanned over 12 years until his death on April 12, 1945, during his fourth term.
It took nearly four years for the amendment to be ratified though.
Have there always been presidential term limits?
Not in writing.
America’s first president, George Washington, set an unofficial precedent when the first elections in the United States were happening. Washington only served as president twice, declining multiple times to serve a third term.
In later years, Washington’s decision to not seek a third term was seen as a safeguard against the type of tyrannical power wielded by the British monarchy during the Colonial era. According to the National Constitution Center, the concept of term limits was discussed at the Constitutional Convention when America was first founded but not added to the Constitution at that time.
Has anyone sought more than two terms as president?
Only a handful of people have sought a third term as president before the 22nd Amendment was ratified.
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Ulysses S. Grant tried for a third term in 1880, but he lost the Republican Party nomination to James Garfield
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Grover Cleveland lacked party support for a third term
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Woodrow Wilson hoped a deadlocked 1920 convention would turn to him for a third term
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Theodore Roosevelt originally passed on running for a third term in 1908, but would later run as third-party candidate in 1912 after a fallout with then-President William Howard Taft. Roosevelt beat Taft, but both lost to Woodrow Wilson.
Has any president won non-consecutive elections?
Yes, but only one. Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States.
Others tried and failed.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Can Trump run again? How many times can a person be president?
