Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1880-03-31
PERILS OF 4 THIRD TERM

/ PERILS OF 4 THIRD TERN
Unfortunately the question OF &
! "third term" of the Presidency j:
coupled with name deservedly strong
I with the nation, and in consequence
| the real issue involved and its peril:
to the Republic are by many entirely
ignored. That is due wholly to the
friends of Grant. No one doubts OIL
distrusts the Generals patriotism
all are grateful. sincerely grateful, tc
him for his magnificent services to the
nation during the rebellion, and there
is no honor, no dignity, however great
to which all would not gladly see him
advanced, if compatible with the wei
fare of our institutions and people.
But the real issue involved in 8
''third term," in its bearings and prob
able consequences to the nation in
the future, far transcends in import
ance anything merely personal to
General Grant. Hence, in order that
it be properly understood, that the
people may appreciate fully its char.
acter and scope and its perils, General
Grants great name and services should
be eliminated from the discussion, and
its examination be conducted indie.
pendently, and solely with reference
to its effect upon the liberties and des.
tiny of the Republic. 1t should be con.
stantly borne in mind that the "un-
written law" which forbds a third
term to all men was not the invention
of those who prefer other candidates
than Grant. Nor was it the inven-
ton of party. 1t is the offspring OF
patriotism, of hostility to autocray,
of love of liberty and free instltu-
tions. Its birth antedates that Of the
Government itself 1t will be found
in the Convention which framed the
Constitution of the United States,
among the wisest, purest, the most
sagacious of our early or Revolution
ary patriots; and the failure of the
Convention to limit in the Constitu-
tion the eligibility of the President
was regarded by many of them as of
lJSell SullCitut lcdSOn lOi luC iOluSoi
by the people to adopt that instrument.
Thomas Jefferson, the author of the
Declaration of Independence, in let
ter to John Adams, dated Paris, Nov.
13, 1877, says: "How do you like
our new constitution Iconfess there
are things in it which stagger all my
disposition to subscribe to what such
an assembly has proposed. x
Their President seems bad edition
of Polish king. He may be elected
from four years to four years for life.
Reason and experience prove to US
that Chief Magistrate so continuable
is an office for life. When one or two
generations shall have proved that this
is an Office for life, it becomes on every
succession worthy CT intrigue, of bri-
berry, of force, and even of foreign in
reference 1t will be of great conse-
quen"e to France and England to have
America governed by Galloman or
an Angloman. Once in office and pos
sessing the military force of the Union,
without the aid or check of a council,
be would not be easily dethroned, even
if the people could be induced to with
draw their votes from him. l irish
that at the end Of The four gears they
had made him .torecer ineligible to a
second term"
Again and again, in letters to other
distinguished patriots, Jefferson urged
this objection to the adoption of the
Constitution. In that, and in the
great power which the Constitution
clothes the President, Patrick Henry
saw ''squinting towards monarchy"
the probability, sooner or later, of
the continuous reelection for life Of a
popular favorite, with its inevitable
consequences, monarchy And in
that attitude they were supported by
all the teachings of history. But the
situation in which at the time the ma
tion was involved, its necessities, grave
perils, caused many to surrender their
Judgment and to hush their fears, and
the Constitution, as it is, was adopted !;
but Washington and Jefferson, the
"Father of his Country" and the
author of the Declaration of Indepen-
dence," as sagacious as patriotic, de-
termined, if possible, by the weight of
their example, to establish a limit to
the eligibility to the Presidency. At
moments when their great popularity
was unabated, and when the people
no doubt would have gladly hailed
their reelection, both declined third
term" They would not, by accept
ing, establish a precedent which in
all probability would ultimately work
the subversion of our institutions and
the liberties of the nation.
The people, without distinction of
party, applauded their acts, ard ratified
the precedent they thus established as
the "unwritten law" of the land. Nor
has any one since-no matter how
great his popularity, how great his
services to the nation-been able to
reverse or repeal the law thus adopted.
1t is apparently impregnably fixed in
the minds and hearts of the people
Later, an illustration of that may be
found in the case of Gen. Andrew
Jackson. His popularity was as great
as Jeferson's. 1t was on the increase,
rather than on the wane, at the close
of his second term, when some indis-
Greet partisans agitated third term
for the General His health was fail
ing. In his own opinion he had not
long to live He was also a widOwer
and childless, and had no one of his
own blood to whom to transmit the
succession. 1t was, nevertheless,
charged by his opponents that the
General was not averse to a third
term'-that he had an ambition to
die in the Presidency. If Jackson,
whose patriotism was unimpeachable
was of the intensest kind, really in a
moment of weakness favored a "third
term," which is very doubtful, the