Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution
Some argue that the 22nd Amendment and 12th Amendment bar any two-term president from later serving as vice president as well as from succeeding to the presidency from any point in the presidential line of succession. Others contend that the original intent of the 12th Amendment concerns qualification for "service" (age, residence, and citizenship), while the 22nd Amendment, concerns qualifications for "election", and thus (strictly applying the text) a former two-term president is still eligible to "serve" as vice president (neither amendment restricts the number of times an individual can be elected to the vice presidency), and then succeed to the presidency to serve out the balance of the term (though prohibited from running for election to an additional term).
Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution
Though dismissed by the Constitutional Convention, the concept of term limits for U.S. presidents took hold during the presidencies of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. As his second term entered its final year in 1796, George Washington was exhausted from years of public service, and his health had begun to decline. He was also bothered by the unrelenting attacks from his political opponents, which had escalated after the signing of the Jay Treaty, and believed that he had accomplished his major goals as president. For these reasons, he decided not to stand for reelection to a third term, a decision he announced to the nation through a "Farewell Address" in September 1796. Eleven years later, as Thomas Jefferson neared the half-way point of his second term, he wrote,