President William Clinton served two terms as President, who was thereby followed by President George W. Bush who also served two terms, and then by Barack Obama, who served two terms, as well. Though that streak was broken in the Presidential election of 2020, it is fair to state, that Presidents in today’s era are more inclined to be re-elected then they were, when for eight successive Presidencies, after the two-term President, Andrew Jackson, we note that none of those thereafter, who became President had a second term, until the advent of Abraham Lincoln.
Abraham Lincoln’s administration was a unique administration, for his administration had to forcefully deal with the seceding of several States of that Union, and of which, the response of that President, was to thereby issue a Proclamation, stipulating that such a seceding was too powerful to subdue through the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, and that therefore as Commander in Chief, it was the obligation, of that President, to thereby take the necessary steps to defend the union by issuing a call for 75,000 volunteers so as to help form a powerful Union army, to thus wage war against those that had attacked Fort Sumter, so as to best defend that Union of States, and the Constitution, so of.
We so find, that if those eight Presidents that had preceded Lincoln, were considered to be weak in the Executive office, that Lincoln, on the other hand, indeed made the Executive office something to be reckoned with. First, in regards to the Judicial branch, and in particular, the Supreme Court, we find that it was that Supreme Court, that decided in May of 1861, that Lincoln did not have the right to suspend habeas corpus, of which Lincoln’s response to that was to ignore that Supreme Court decision, and to keep habeas corpus suspended, as so needed, during that civil war. It was not that Lincoln believed that the Executive branch was above the law, but rather Lincoln was of the opinion, that the interpretation of that law, should not solely be done by an unelected Supreme Court, and further to the point, Lincoln could not afford either the time or the effort, to prove the point, that abject obedience to poorly reasoned law, could in itself, lead to the very downfall of that government, which as President, he was sworn to protect and to defend. Secondly, Lincoln did not hesitate to see that Southern ports were blockaded to preclude war materials from being imported to them, as well as to prevent cotton and other southern goods from being exported. Also, it was Lincoln that saw to it that appropriate monies were issued so as to increase the manpower size of the army and navy; and finally, without Congressional approval, Lincoln issued his famous Emancipation Proclamation, thereby freeing those so enslaved in those States that were still in a state of rebellion.
In today’s America, Presidents so being elected, are in almost every case, so done with the anticipation, that they will seek a second term; of which, the process of seeking that second term, seems to coincide almost with their very first day in office. It seems to be, that because the Executive office consists of just one person; and whereas, the Legislative branches are not only bicameral in nature, but also consist of a multitude of representatives with all sorts of different agendas and experiences -- that the smart money wants to back the same horse for two-terms, or eight years, in order to best get done what they so desire to get done through that Executive that often seems to have the power to get it done.