At the Constitutional Convention Hamilton advocated a president for life, while others claimed that this gives the PResident too muc hpower, and the 4 year term was meant to prevent that.
I don't have the exact cites, but I'm sure you can find it in Madison's notes and other sources. Ilya SOmin On Tue, 1 Jul 2003, Robert Justin Lipkin wrote: > In a message dated 7/1/2003 12:11:32 PM Eastern Daylight Time, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > > I do believe, though, that he [Hamilton] favored very long terms for > > presidents, which certainly approaches the monarchical principle. > > > > Was there much discussion--in or out of the Constitutional > Convention--about the number of years of a President's term? Is there any literature > examining this question and revealing why the Founders chose a term of four > years? Was there any discussion about limiting the number of terms a President > could serve? > > > Bobby Lipkin > Widener University School of Law > Delaware >
