_Proposed Executive Council._--While the convention was practically unanimous in the view that the supreme executive power should be vested in a single person, a good many members looked with favor on a proposition to associate with the President an executive council which should share with him the exercise of the executive power in certain important fields. Most of the state constitutions then in force had provided such councils, and now that a national executive with far larger powers was being created there was all the more reason why it should be placed to some extent under the guardianship of a council. But the proposition was rejected, and in its place the Senate was charged with acting as an executive council to the President in negotiating treaties and the making of appointments, but in no other respects. =Qualifications of the President.=--The Constitution requires that the President shall be a natural born citizen of the United States,[58] that he must have attained the age of thirty-five years, and must have been fourteen years a resident of the United States. The same qualifications are required of the Vice President. [58] Or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of the Constitution. This exception was made out of respect to the distinguished men of foreign birth, such as Alexander Hamilton and James Wilson, who were members of the convention that framed the Constitution. As more than a hundred years have elapsed since the adoption of the Constitution, the exception, of course, no longer has any meaning. =The Presidential Term.=--There was considerable discussion in the convention regarding the term of the President. It was first decided that the term should be seven years and the President made ineligible to a second term, but upon further consideration the convention decided to fix the term at four years and nothing was said in regard to reëligibility. The result is, the President may serve as many terms as the people may see fit to elect him. The following Presidents have been elected to two terms: Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Jackson, Lincoln, Grant, Cleveland, McKinley, and Wilson.[59] Cleveland, after serving one term, was renominated by his party but was defeated by the Republican candidate. He was then nominated for the third time by his party and was elected. Washington declined a third term and his example has been followed by his successors. The precedent thus established, that the President shall serve only two terms, has become part of our unwritten constitution, and but two attempts have ever been made to break the custom.[60] [59] Mr. Roosevelt became President by the death of President McKinley about half a year after the beginning of the latter's second term. He served out the unexpired term of Mr. McKinley and was elected to the following full term of four years.