document: For that reason and others , the Constitutional Convention unanimously rejected term limits and the First Congress soundly defeated two subsequent term-limit proposals . Hamilton , who did not even support term limitations on the presidency , reasoned that imposing limits `` would be a diminution of the inducements to good behavior . '' Madison said that some members of Congress will `` by frequent re-elections , become members of long-standing ; will be thoroughly masters of the public business . '' In fact , that has been the case . Over the years , term limits would have unseated Daniel Webster and Henry Clay 10 years before they forged the 1850 Compromise that held the Union together . Term limits would have cost us Everett Dirksen , who rallied Republicans around early civil-rights bills and Florida 's own Claude Pepper , who long defended Social Security and Medicare against revenue raids . It was not the Federalists but their adversaries who clamored for term limits , perhaps because they were then out of power . Robert Livingston said it best at the New York convention to ratify the Constitution : `` The people are the best judges who ought to represent them . To dictate and control them , to tell them who they shall not elect , is to abridge their natural rights . '' T.K. Wetherel Speaker Florida House of Representatives Tallahassee , Fla. .
extractive_keyphrases: term limits term limitations constitutional convention first congress natural rights
abstractive_keyphrases: subsequent term-limit proposals frequent re-elections