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.
Quinquennat
The idea of a 5-year term was evoked during the French parliamentary session of 1848, but rejected in favor of a 4-year term. The idea was re-introduced by Georges Pompidou in 1973, who failed to enact it. In the year 2000, Jacques Chirac led a referendum reducing the president's term from seven to five years. Thus, when he was elected in 2002, he was the first president to serve a five-year term.