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.
Inauguration of John Adams
The inauguration of John Adams as the second President of the United States was held on Saturday, March 4, 1797, in the House of Representatives Chamber of Congress Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The inauguration marked the commencement of the only four-year term of John Adams as President and of Thomas Jefferson as Vice President. The presidential oath of office was administered to John Adams by Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth. Adams was the first president to receive the oath of office from a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.