ABSTRACT
This chapter will give a history of term limits beginning with classical debates in Greek philosophy through the discussion of term limits at the founding. It will then transition to why the subject disappeared in American politics for almost 200 years, followed by an explanation for their revival in the 1980s and 1990s in a new form. In the 1700s, term limits were always proposed as a preventative measure. However, beginning in the 1980s, term limits were proposed as a fixative measure; a cure to the ills of careerism and incumbency, some of the very same ideals that reformers succeeded in. Rather than a safeguard, term limits were now functioning as a reform to dissatisfaction with institutions. The chapter will conclude with the trickle-down effect of state-level term limits initiatives to movements for term limits at the local level that the United States has been experiencing for roughly 30 years.
