Term of the Executive, [1 June?] 1787

Term of the Executive

[1 June 1787?]

Bedford favored a triennial election and ineligibility after nine years because the executive could be ousted for “misfeasance only, not incapacity” (Farrand, Records description begins Max Farrand, ed., The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787 (4 vols.; New Haven, 1911–37). description ends , I, 69).

Mr. Maddison observed that to prevent a Man from holding an Office longer than he ought, he may for malpractice be impeached and removed;—he is not for any ineligibility.1

Farrand, Records description begins Max Farrand, ed., The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787 (4 vols.; New Haven, 1911–37). description ends , I, 74 (Pierce).

1. King also recorded JM speaking on the term of office: “Mad. 7 years and an exclusion for ever after—or during good behavior” (ibid., I, 71). King’s version is contradicted by internal evidence as well as by Pierce’s account. JM apparently favored reeligibility, not exclusion. However, King may be correct in placing JM’s speech before Mason’s and Bedford’s, rather than after, as Pierce has it.

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Source Project: Madison Papers
Title: Term of the Executive, [1 June?] 1787
Author: Pierce, William
Date: 1 June 1787

Reference

Cite as: “Term of the Executive, [1 June?] 1787,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-10-02-0012. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, vol. 10, 27 May 1787–3 March 1788, ed. Robert A. Rutland, Charles F. Hobson, William M. E. Rachal, and Frederika J. Teute. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1977, p. 23.]