Evening star., 1927-05-01
Anti Third Term Tradition a DelusiOn

thing asa public question cannot he known.
He saw many spooks when he tried to forecast
the future; he thought, for instance, that
navy might become a means Of despotism, and
wanted TO limit to small gunboats Ana
so he feared that a third term might mean
despotisn and preached against it. lie wrote
10 Mr. Weaver that unless a limit to the num-
ber of a Presidents terms was fixed his office,
though nominally elective will in fact be for
life; and that will soon degenerate into an
Inheritance" Hereditary monarchy, in other
words; jefferson seemed to overlook entirely
the power Of the people to put the would-be
King out of office. lie even favored a constitu-
tonal amendment prohibiting a President from
filing too many terms, being equally obivious
to the fact that If the people ever became 40
desirous of King all that, no Constitution
would stand in their way.
He continued to preach publicly against the
third term as a matter of principle, and pri-
yately to express his weariness with office and
his groundless fears that his mind would not
serve him through a third term He retired. to
become the crownless king of the Democratic
party. The word Of the Sage Of Monticello
was law, and especially so to his successors,
Madison and Monroe neither of whom would
have dreamed of seeking a third term under
the disappearing eye of their lord; for they
were of all Democrats his foremost henchmen.
They were his puppets sought his advice on
everything, and throughout their terms, Jeffer-
son guided the country from Monticello. Hence
the question did not arise in their administra-
tions. nor in that Of John Quincy Adams, who
could not get even a second term.
x x x X
Then came Jackson who had views on
the third term as a principle, but who did not
want more than one for himself. Before his
first term ended he was training up his pupil
Van Buren, To take his place. More than a
year before the end Of that first term he wrote
to Van Buren, announcing his desire to retire
and thus to prove that I never had any other
ambition but that of serving my country when
she requested, and when I knew it could be
better served by others. to open the door for
their employment--you will understand me-
But his first term ended with his policies
still hanging in the balance and bitter fight
going on over all Of them, and he took second
term to finish his work. He finished it tri-
umphantly, but had to postpone for four years
his wish to "open the door for others'-that is,
for Van Buren,. Then, absolute master of his
party as not even Jefferson had ever been, he
forced it to accept his successor from his hands
and retired thankfully and VIGOROUSLY TO the
Hermitage,
The third term question still unborn,
except for Jeffers0n's remarks the subject,
made from mixed motives. From Jackson's
time to Grants it remained unborn, for no
President except Lincoln was able to get a
second term. and Lincoln was killed less than
six weeks after his reinauguration. There was
no tradition" no 'unwritten law: nobody had
ever talked about 1t except the weary jefferson,
who could assuredly have had a third term
almost by acclamation. 1t stayed unborn until
1878.
In that year certain newspapers started
sensational story that President Grant was
scheming for third term and that to elect
a military hero three times would mean what
they called "Caesarism." Grant as Caesar
seems trifie comcal now; in looking around
for Caesar, says Dr. Samuel McChord Crothers
amusedly, they picked on plain Ulysses
Grant but a good many people were scared
by the apparition Of a hero galloping into
Continued on Third Pacel