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Conkling had a genuine affection for him, and consented to go with him to Mentor; and yet there was some trifle always in the way of a complete understanding with the old guard of the Third-Term Crusaders. Garfield was very sensible of and grateful for the work done by Grant and Conkling, and did not stint expression of his feeling.
But the third-term proposition, at that time, received a severe blow when, in December, 1875, the House of Representatives passed a resolution by a vote of 234 to 18, declaring that in its opinion, the precedent established by Washington and other Presidents of the United States, in retiring from the Presidential office after their second terms, had become, by universal concurrence, a part of our republican system of government, and that any departure from this time-honored custom would be unwise, unpatriotic, and fraught with peril to our free institutions.
There had been a third-term boom for the General during his second administration and he had indicated that he was not formidably opposed to further continuance in office.
"Henry Watterson," he said, "I want to talk to you seriously about this third-term business. I will not deny that I have thought of the thing thought of it a great deal." Then he proceeded to relate from his point of view the state of the country and the immediate situation.
"Henry Watterson," he said, "I want to talk to you seriously about this third-term business. I will not deny that I have thought of the thing thought of it a great deal." Then he proceeded to relate from his point of view the state of the country and the immediate situation.
This established the institution, and it has been used over and over again to this day. The Third-term Tradition.% Another political custom which had grown to have the force of law was that of never electing a President to three terms. The example so set was followed by Madison and Monroe and had thus by 1824 become an established usage.
This was justly regarded as a politician's letter, and increased alarm instead of allaying it. As 70 Republicans voted for this resolution, it was practically the voice of both parties, and it dispelled the spectre of "Cæsarism," as the third-term idea was called. There is reason to believe that if it had caused less alarm it would have assumed a more substantial aspect.
The republican governments at once fell to the ground. As the Democrats had already got control in Florida, the "solid South" was now an accomplished fact. Financial questions were those which chiefly occupied the public mind during Hayes's administration. Returning from a remarkable tour around the world, General Grant became in 1880 a candidate for a third-term nomination.
Suddenly, however, the anti-third-term feeling had risen to impressive proportions, whereupon the House of Representatives had adopted a resolution which characterized any departure from the two-term precedent as "unwise, unpatriotic, and fraught with peril to our free institutions." As the resolution passed by an overwhelming vote 233-18 nothing further was heard of a third-term boom.
He eclipsed the foremost of the Grant clique, Morton and Conkling, who after a little fruitless third-term talk were both hoping to be legatees of the Grant influence in the approaching Presidential convention. But at the eleventh hour a cloud swept over Blaine's prospects, in charges of discreditable receipt of favors from railroads looking for political aid.
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