<P> Through the Electoral College, registered voters indirectly elect the president and vice president to a four - year term . This is the only federal election in the United States which is not decided by popular vote . Nine vice presidents became president by virtue of a president's intra-term death or resignation . </P> <P> Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 sets three qualifications for holding the presidency: natural - born U.S. citizenship; at least thirty - five years of age; and residency in the United States for at least fourteen years . The Twenty - second Amendment precludes any person from being elected president to a third term . In all, 44 individuals have served 45 presidencies spanning 57 full four - year terms . Grover Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms, so he is counted twice; as both the 22nd and 24th president . </P> <P> Donald Trump of New York is the 45th and current president . He assumed office on January 20, 2017 . </P> <P> During the American Revolution in 1776, the Thirteen Colonies, acting through the Second Continental Congress, declared political independence from Great Britain . The new states were independent of each other as nation states and recognized the necessity of closely coordinating their efforts against the British . Congress desired to avoid anything that remotely resembled a monarchy and negotiated the Articles of Confederation to establish an alliance between the states . Under the Articles, Congress was a central authority without any legislative power . It could make its own resolutions, determinations, and regulations, but not any laws, and could not impose any taxes or enforce local commercial regulations upon its citizens . This institutional design reflected how Americans believed the deposed British system of Crown and Parliament ought to have functioned with respect to the royal dominion: a superintending body for matters that concerned the entire empire . The states were out from under any monarchy and assigned some formerly royal prerogatives (e.g., making war, receiving ambassadors, etc .) to Congress; the remaining prerogatives were lodged within their own respective state governments . The states agreed to a resolution that settled competing western land claims . The Articles took effect on March 1, 1781, when Maryland became the final state to ratify them . </P>

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