Note 123 — Chapter XV · THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET

When the constitution was finally drawn and made public many features of it were strongly criticized, but nowhere was there any objection to this method of electing the President. Everyone seemed to feel that this method of choice by an electoral college was an admirable one. Yet curiously enough it turned out to be one of the poorest things that the convention did. It has completely failed to work out as the convention intended. Direct popular election, which the constitution endeavors to avoid, is exactly what we have. The convention, moreover, placed no limit upon the number of terms which a President might have. But Washington set the example by declining a third consecutive term and no President since his time has ever served three terms. From time to time it has been suggested that the President’s term should be lengthened to six years and that he should then be made ineligible for re-election, just as, in some of our larger cities, the mayor is ineligible to succeed himself. This suggestion, however, has never found much favor.