A President for life?
Commentary
Having removed the bar on re-election, the convention then considered a proposal at the other extreme, the appointment of a chief magistrate 'during good behaviour'---that is to say for as long as the holder of the office wished to remain, assuming he was not removed under the provisions for impeachment. Again, the desire to grant the magistrate 'independence' was the principle behind such a proposal. The phrase 'during good behaviour' was one principally associated at the time with judicial appointments.
This proposal failed, as did a subsequent one to re-open the question of the length of term without specifying any particular answer.
The Virginia Plan as amended in Committee [Resolutions] - Ninth Resolution (Working Version): Length of Term - McClurg/Morris for Good Behaviour was proposed
on 17 July 1787
Approved for publication
None
A President for life? by Dr Nicholas Cole (npcole)
The Creation of the Electoral College
Cite as: Dr Nicholas Cole, ‘A President for life?’ in N. P. Cole, Grace Mallon and Kat Howarth, The Creation of the Electoral College, Quill Project at Pembroke College (Oxford, 2016), item 71.