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George Washington's Eight State of the Union Addresses-A Complete Collection, 1790-1796
George Washington's Eight State of the Union Addresses-A Complete Collection, 1790-1796
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Washington George

George Washington’s Eight State of the Union Addresses-

A Complete Collection, 1790-1796

 

This remarkable collection of the first eight annual messages to Congress shows the emerging foundation of this American tradition and Constitutional mandate.  Delivered as nearly all Americans in the new nation would have received it—in a newspaper—each address conveys the accomplishments, growth, and challenges, both foreign and domestic, of the new Republic.

 

These addresses include some of Washington’s most memorable pronouncements to Congress, including:

  • To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.
  • Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness.
  • The laws you have already passed for the establishment of a judiciary system, have opened the doors of justice to all descriptions of persons.
  • The revenues for the present year is likely to supersede the necessity of additional burthens on the community
  • I have obeyed the suffrage which commanded me to resume the Executive power.
  • If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace,…it must be known that we are at all times ready for war.
  • With the deepest regret do I announce to you that during your recess some of the citizens of the United States have been found capable of insurrection.
  • the will of the majority shall prevail.
  • Faithful to ourselves, we have violated no obligation to others.
  • our country exhibits a spectacle of national happiness never surpassed
  • it a sacred duty to exercise with firmness and energy the constitutional powers with which I am vested, yet it appears to me no less consistent with the public good than it is with my personal feelings to mingle in the operations of Government every degree of moderation and tenderness which the national justice, dignity, and safety may permit.
  • To an active external commerce the protection of a naval force is indispensable.
  • a primary object of such a national institution should be the education of our youth in the science of government.
  • I…congratulate you and my country on the success of the experiment.

 

Massachusetts Centinel and Columbian Setinel. Eight 4-page issues. January 16, 1790 – December 14, 1796. Newspaper. Boston, MA. 32 pp.

 

Historical Background

 

Article II, Section 3, of the U.S. Constitution requires that the president “shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.…”  As with many other aspects of the Presidency, George Washington established patterns that his successors followed.  Between 1790 and 1796, Washington delivered eight annual addresses to Congress to fulfill his Constitutional obligations.

 

President John Adams followed Washington’s practice of appearing in person before Congress to deliver his address, but President Thomas Jefferson feared the practice seemed too much like the British monarch’s custom of presenting mandates to Parliament in person, rather than making recommendations, as the U.S. Constitution required.  He and his successors throughout the nineteenth century sent written annual messages to Congress, which a clerk read to the assembled legislators.  In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson returned to Washington’s practice of delivering an oral address to Congress.  After a brief reversion to written messages from 1924 to 1932, President Franklin D. Roosevelt inaugurated the modern oral State of the Union address in 1934.  Although there have been occasional exceptions, most Presidents since have delivered an annual oral message to a joint session of Congress, usually early in each year, to fulfill their Constitutional obligation. 

 

Published in newspapers since 1790, broadcast on radio since 1923, televised since 1947, and webcast on the Internet since 2002, the annual State of the Union messages are also addressed to the American people.  In these major speeches, Presidents recount the accomplishments of their administrations and make policy recommendations to Congress and the American people.

 

 

George Washington’s First State of the Union Address, 1790

 

Massachusetts Centinel, Boston, Mass.: Benjamin Russell, January 16, 1790. Including the complete text of Washington’s January 8, 1790, first Annual Message to Congress, now officially known as the State of the Union Address. 4 pp., 14 ¾" x 9 ½" Disbound.

 

Partial Transcript: 

“I embrace with great satisfaction the opportunity, which now presents itself, of congratulating you on the present favorable prospects of our public affairs. The recent accession of the important state of North-Carolina to the Constitution of the United States …  – the rising credit and respectability of our country – the general and increasing good-will towards the government of the union, and the concord, peace and plenty, with which we are blessed, are circumstances auspicious, in an eminent degree to our national prosperity.…

Among the many interesting objects, which will engage your attention, that of providing for the common defence will merit particular regard. – To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.

A free people ought not only to be armed but disciplined; to which end a uniform and well digested plan is requisite; And their safety and interest require that they should promote such manufactories, as tend to render them independent of others, for essential, particularly military, supplies.…

 Various considerations also render it expedient that the terms on which foreigners may be admitted to the rights of Citizens, should be speedily ascertained by a uniform rule of naturalization….

Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness….  To the security of a free constitution it contributes in various ways - by convincing those who are intrusted with the public administration that every valuable end of government is best answered by the enlightened confidence of the people, and by teaching the people themselves to know and to value their own rights…to distinguish between oppression and the necessary exercise of lawful authority; between burthens proceeding from a disregard to their convenience and those resulting from the inevitable exigencies of society; to discriminate the spirit of liberty from that of licentiousness—cherishing the first, avoiding the last—and uniting a speedy but temperate vigilance against encroachments, with an inviolable respect to the laws.…

 The welfare of our country is the great object to which our cares and efforts ought to be directed.  And I shall derive great satisfaction from a cooperation with you, in the pleasing though arduous task of ensuring to our fellow citizens the blessings which they have a right to expect from a free, efficient and equal government.”

 

Historical Background

Dressed in a “crow coloured suit of clothes, of American manufacture,” Washington delivered his first State of the Union address to Congress in Federal Hall in New York City on January 8, 1790.

 

In this first address, written on January 3, 1790, Washington expresses both his general philosophy of governance for the young nation and his list of priorities for Congress’ consideration. Primary among his concerns is “providing for the common defence” and the need for domestic self-sufficiency. He also advocates a uniform rule of naturalization, standardized currency, weights and measures, technological innovation, promotion of science and literature and democratic education: “teaching the people themselves to know, and to value their own rights…to distinguish between oppression and the necessary exercise of lawful authority…”   He also notes North Carolina’s recent adoption of the Constitution.  Not only is this State of the Union address the first in U.S. history, but at just over 1,000 words, it is also the shortest ever delivered by an American President.

 

This issue also contains essays on an excise tax and the new federal oath, domestic and foreign news, current prices, and various advertisements.  On page four appears an interesting editorial about the importance of education and a call for a national university. In part, the anonymous author writes, “It remains for America, by an early attention to the encouragement of every art and science, and the cultivation of the human mind, to the highest pitch of improvement, to fit the inhabitants of his western world for the enjoyment of that freedom and independence for which they so nobly fought….”

 

George Washington’s Second State of the Union Address, 1790

 

Columbian Centinel, Boston, Mass.: Benjamin Russell, December 22, 1790. Printing Washington’s December 8, 1790, second Annual Message to Congress.  4 pp. 16 ¼" x 10 ¾" Disbound.

 

Partial Transcript:

“… I feel much satisfaction in being able to repeat my congratulations on the favourable prospects which continue to distinguish our public affairs. ...

 Since your last sessions I have received communications by which it appears that the district of Kentucky, at present a part of Virginia, has concurred in certain propositions contained in a law of that State, in consequence of which the district is to become a distinct member of the Union; in case the requisite sanction of Congress be added. For this sanction application is now made.....

It has been heretofore known to Congress, that frequent incursions have been made on our frontier settlements by certain banditti of Indians from the northwest side of the Ohio. ...The lives of a number of valuable citizens have thus been sacrificed, and some of them under circumstances peculiarly shocking, whilst others have been carried into a deplorable captivity.

…the aggressors should be made sensible that the government of the union is not less capable of punishing their crimes, than it is disposed to respect their rights and reward their attachments. As this object could not be affected by defensive measures, it became necessary to put in force the act which empowers The President to call out the militia for the protection of the frontiers. ...

The disturbed situation of Europe, and particularly the critical posture of the great maritime powers, whilst it ought to make us more thankful for the general peace and security enjoyed by the United States, reminds us at the same time of the circumspection with which it becomes us to preserve these blessings. It requires also, that we should not overlook the tendency of a war, and even of preparations for a war, among the nations most concerned in active commerce with this country, to abridge the means, and thereby at least enhance the price of transporting its valuable productions to their markets.…

The laws you have already passed for the establishment of a judiciary system, have opened the doors of justice to all descriptions of persons. You will consider in your wisdom whether improvements in that system may yet be made.… 

The establishment of The Militia, of a Mint, of standards of Weights and Measures, of the Post Office and Post Roads are subjects which (I presume) you will resume of course, and which are abundantly urged by their own importance.…

It will be happy for us both, and our best reward, if by a successful administration of our respective trusts, we can make the established Government more and more instrumental in promoting the good of our fellow-citizens, and more and more the object of their attachment and confidence.”

 

Historical Background

Dressed in black, President Washington delivered his second annual message to Congress in the Senate chamber at noon on December 8, 1790. Although the President read his speech “well enough, or at least tolerably,” after his departure, Vice President and President of the Senate John Adams read it again to the assembled senators.

 

In his speech, Washington reports that Kentucky, formerly a part of Virginia, now seeks admission to the Union.  He also explains to Congress that he has had to call out the militia to protect against Native American depredations on the western frontier.  He commends Congress for establishing the federal judiciary and reminds them of the importance of addressing foreign affairs while avoiding entanglements in European wars.

This issue also contains a letter to the editor on the orthodoxy of Isaac Watts (1674-1748), domestic and foreign news, and various advertisements.

 

 

George Washington’s Third State of the Union Address, 1791

 

Columbian Centinel, Boston, Mass.: Benjamin Russell, November 5, 1791. Printing Washington’s October 25, 1791, third Annual Message to Congress.  4 pp. 17 ¾" x 11 ½" Disbound.   

 

Partial Transcript:

“…Numerous as are the providential blessings which demand our grateful acknowledgments, the abundance with which another year has again rewarded the industry of the husbandman is too important to escape recollection. 

Your own observations in your respective situations will have satisfied you of the progressive state of agriculture, manufactures, commerce, and navigation. In tracing their causes you will have remarked with particular pleasure the happy effects of that revival of confidence, public as well as private, to which the Constitution and laws of the United States have so eminently contributed; and you will have observed with no less interest new and decisive proofs of the increasing reputation and credit of the nation.… The rapid subscriptions to the Bank of the United States, which completed the sum allowed to be subscribed in a single day, is among the striking and pleasing evidences which present themselves, not only of confidence in the Government, but of resource in the community.…

Among the most important of these is the defense and security of the western frontiers. To accomplish it on the most humane principles was a primary wish.

Accordingly, at the same time the treaties have been provisionally concluded and other proper means used to attach the wavering and to confirm in their friendship the well-disposed tribes of Indians, effectual measures have been adopted to make those of a hostile description sensible that a pacification was desired upon terms of moderation and justice.

Those measures having proved unsuccessful, it became necessary to convince the refractory of the power of the United States to punish their depredations. Offensive operations have therefore been directed, to be conducted, however, as consistently as possible with the dictates of humanity.…

Overtures of peace are still continued to the deluded tribes, and considerable numbers of individuals belonging to them have lately renounced all further opposition, removed from their former situations, and placed themselves under the immediate protection of the United States.

It is sincerely to be desired that all need of coercion in future may cease and that an intimate intercourse may succeed, calculated to advance the happiness of the Indians and to attach them firmly to the United States.…

The powers specially vested in me by the act laying certain duties on distilled spirits, which respect the subdivisions of the districts into surveys, the appointment of officers, and the assignment of compensations, have likewise carried into effect.…  The novelty… of the tax in a considerable part of the United States and a misconception of some of its provisions have given occasion in particular places to some degree of discontent; …

Pursuant to the authority contained in the several acts on that subject, a district of 10 miles square for the permanent seat of the Government of the United State has been fixed and announced by proclamation, which district will comprehend lands on both sides of the river Potomac and the towns of Alexandria and Georgetown. A city has also been laid out agreeably to a plan which will be placed before Congress,…



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