George Washington
At the end of his second term, Washington retired for personal and political reasons, fatigued and disgusted with personal attacks, and to assure a truly contested presidential election could be held. He did not feel bound to a two-term limit, but his retirement ultimately set precedent. The two-term limit to the presidency was formalized with the 1951 adoption of the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution. Washington is often credited with setting the principal of a two-term presidency, but it was Thomas Jefferson who first refused to run for a third term on political grounds.
Stanley C. Wilson
In attaining the governorship, Wilson adhered to the provision of the Republican Party's "Mountain Rule," which required candidates to alternate between the east and west sides of the Green Mountains. However Wilson also ran for a second term, as had his predecessor John E. Weeks. A second term violated the Mountain Rule provision that limited governors to two years in office. Weeks argued that there needed to be continuity in office so that the state could continue its efforts to recover from the 1927 flood. Wilson argued that he needed to both continue flood recovery efforts and to combat the negative economic effects of the Great Depression, and his reelection served to modify the Mountain Rule. Beginning with Weeks and Wilson, two terms (four years) in office became more or less standard. Along with changes including the direct election of United States Senators and party primary elections, Weeks's and Wilson's willingness to go against tradition were seen as further eroding the Mountain Rule, one of the primary tools for maintaining discipline within the ranks of the Republican Party.