February 27, 1951

Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution

Minnesota completes ratification of the Twenty-second Amendment

Minnesota's Senate had already voted 39–27; a House vote of 80–43 two weeks later changed the Constitution for the whole country.

The thirty-sixth state of forty-eight

The Minnesota House of Representatives approved the proposed presidential-term-limit amendment on 27 February 1951, two weeks after the state Senate had done so on 13 February. The votes were 80–43 and 39–27.

That made Minnesota the thirty-sixth of the forty-eight states to ratify, supplying the three-fourths majority Article V requires.

Ten states acted on the amendment between 12 and 28 February 1951, ending a ratification process that had slowed after its initial 1947 burst.

What the text actually limits

The amendment barred a person from being elected president more than twice, and limited a person who served more than two years of another president's term to one subsequent election.

That is not a simple eight-year cap. Someone succeeding to the office with two years or less remaining may still be elected twice and could serve nearly ten years.

Its text limits election to the presidency; whether an election-ineligible former president could ever again succeed to or act as president is an unresolved interpretive question.

Certified two days after it was already law

Jess Larson, the Administrator of General Services, certified on 1 March 1951 that the amendment had become part of the Constitution. He is often described as proclaiming it into effect that day.

He did not. Minnesota's ratification had already made the proposal part of the Constitution on 27 February; the federal certification recorded that result rather than creating it.

Truman, who held the presidency when Congress proposed the amendment, was expressly exempted by it and was not made ineligible.

Sources

Researched 24 Aug 2026 5 sources not yet audited

How this was checked

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What the sources leave uncertain

Official summaries use different dates for the 1947 congressional process: the National Archives labels 21 March as the date Congress passed the amendment, while the Senate Manual identifies 24 March as the date the House agreed to the Senate amendment and Congress formally proposed it. This does not affect the independently documented ratification date of 27 February 1951.