The New York herald., 1876-02-09
The One Term Amend.,ent

mined.
The One Term Amendment
If the important amendment lp1iting tho
President to single term shoud not be
adopted in the centennial year, thin reforr
is not likely to be carried during theyfetimt
of any citizen who is now voter. fit sue.
ceeds at all in this generation its success will
be owing to the public feeling which has
been awakened by the third term danger
which the HERALD was the earliest to see and
proclaim, and which the greater portion Of
the American press first derided, then con-
sidered, and finally acknowledged to be the
chief peril of the time. 1t is curious to look
back on the course of this question and trace
it from the contemptuous SCOTS with which the
HERALD was assaied when it opened the dis.
cussion TO the general conviction of the presl
and the public that President Grant really
desires a third election, and that the patron.
age of this Office has grown so colossal that
he may control the nomination of one of ouI
political parties against the time-honored
precedent set by Washington, indorsed by
jefferson, and accepted by the country as
having binding force hardly inferior to the
constitution itself Our success in arousina
public sentiment to the magnitude of the
danger encourages us to believe that we shall
secure like Endorsement of the only effectual
remedy. We are prepared for the incredulity
which has always greeted reformers who
were ever so little in advance of theiI
time but the grounds on which we pro-
ceed are so solid and the arguments we have
to offer SO convincing that they only need
fair hearing to control the public judgment.
1t has been for nearly fifty years the settled
conviction of our wisest statesmen that the
re-eligibility of our Presidents was the chief
peril of our institutions, and the time has
at length come when the danger can be re-
moved. The third term discussions have 50
impressed the country that but a single step
remains for securing the most important
change that could be made in the federal
constitution. But if the third term excite
ment is allowed to pass without plucking
its most valuable fruit nobody can foresee
when SO favorable an opportunity will
return.
We believe that the proposed amendment
can succeed only by reducing it to the
simplest form and accepting the incidental
consequences of the most direct dealing with
the subject. We would, therefore, change
Mr.. Randall's amendment to language some
thing like this ARTICLE 16. The President
and Vice President shall hold their offices
for the term of six years, and the President
shall not be re-eligible." This is about the
form in which such provision should have
been inserted in the original constitution,
and as the amendment is intended to be per-
manent there is no good reason for deviating
from the form which ought to have been
adopted in the beginning. An incidental
effect of such an amendment, if ratified dur
ing the centennial year, would be to extend
President Grants second term to six years,
in accordance with the permanent rule. But i
six years term is wise on general principles
there could be no great evil in allowing any
particular President to have the benefit of it.
The amendment would merely give General
Grant the same term of Office which it would
confer on all his successors, and even if
he should come little prematurely into tho
line of the six years Presidents that would
be mere bagatelle in so important reform.