The President Can Serve Only Two Terms. Why? Civics Question 37

Two answers work: the 22nd Amendment, or to keep the president from becoming too powerful.

Question 37 asks why the President can serve only two terms. Say “because of the 22nd Amendment” for the legal answer, or “to keep the president from becoming too powerful” for the reason behind it. Officers accept either one, and you need only one.

A Tradition Before It Was a Rule

George Washington served two terms and then went home. Nothing in the Constitution made him leave. The country had just fought a war to get out from under a king, and a President who stayed on and on would have started to look like one.

For about 150 years, every President who followed him stopped at two. It was a habit rather than a law, and habits can break.

Why It Became an Amendment

Franklin Roosevelt broke it. He was elected four times, through the Great Depression and the Second World War.

After he died in office, Congress and the states decided the limit should be written down rather than trusted. The 22nd Amendment was ratified in 1951, and it says no person shall be elected President more than twice.

Why the Officer Asks This

Most of the Constitution exists to stop one person or one group from gathering too much power. Term limits are that idea applied to the highest office in the country.

The two accepted answers come from two different places. One is the text that sets the rule. One is the purpose the rule serves.

How to Remember the 22nd Amendment

The number does the work. 22 for 2 terms. Two twos, two terms.

If the number slips away under pressure, the plain answer is still there. “To keep the president from becoming too powerful” is a sentence you can build from what you already know about the Constitution, and it is marked correct on its own.

What to Say on Test Day

Say “the 22nd Amendment,” or say “to keep the president from becoming too powerful.” One of them, then stop.

Leave out Washington, Roosevelt, the year, and the length of a term. The officer is listening for one reason.