It is not possible to answer this question without knowing what precedent you are referring to, since many presidents throughout history set particular precedents that still influence us today.
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George Washington was the first president so he defined the job and set many precedents. However every president sets precedents for the succeeding presidents, particularly if he does something new.
One of the things he did was to set the term of office for the president. He could have stayed in office as long as he wanted, but he felt that an person should serve for a short time and then retire.
I am not sure how important it was since there were not really very many presidents who would have served a third term even without Washington's precedent. Maybe Jefferson, Madison, Monroe or Theodore Roosevelt would have considered a third term had the precedent not been set against it. Jackson and Wilson might have if they were healthier when their second terms ended.
George Washington was asked to run for a third term in office and declined because he felt we would wind up with a government like England with a King at the head of government. He therefore set a precedent of only two terms in office. This was followed until FDR and he was elected for four terms. Thereafter there was introduced an amendment to the constitution limiting presidential terms to two.
George Washington, who served two terms between 1789 and 1797, did not seek a third term in office.
George Washington, the first US president, set a non-binding precedent that was followed from 1787 to 1940. Washington was the first to refuse a third term, thereby accepting a precedent that was followed by all until FDR broke it, although Grant let it be known that he would accept a draft for a third term and Wilson hinted that he might go for a third term before he had his stroke. Teddy Roosevelt left after his first 7 years as President (1901-1909), but regretted it. In 1912, he ran for president again in his newly formed Bull Moose party, against his fellow Republican and successor, William Howard Taft.