Brief History of the State of the Union Address

The State of the Union address – a brief history, as well as some details you might not have known.

From 1790 to 2020

Jan. 8, 1790 saw the first ever annual address to Congress, by President George Washington in New York City. The speech praised the union’s accomplishments, as well as featured some of Washington’s goals, talking and popularizing new legislation ideas.

The speech also holds the record for the shortest address ever, containing a little bit over a thousand words, but fulfilling the Constitution’s mandate that the nation’s leader “shall from time to time give to the Congress Information on the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”

What many might not know is that there really are no specifics other than that to go on when it comes to the State of the Union address. The date or place in which it should be given were never specified in the Constitution, but Washington’s interpretation could be seen as the thing that started the tradition of the address being given once a year.

Whether or not the “information” should be given through a speech was also never specified – leaving it open to interpretation. In 1801, Thomas Jefferson decided to convey what he needed by opting for a written message over a speech, starting a trend that lasted a little more than 100 years before being broken by President Woodrow Wilson in 1913. With several exceptions after that year, most of the State of the Union addresses were given in person to Congress.

The place in which the address must be given was also never specified, as you might have already guessed. The only requirement is that both houses of Congress are present, requiring a concurrent resolution from the Senate and the House of Representatives. Should the resolution not pass, neither will the joint session happen.

2019 was the first time in over 30 years that the State of the Union experienced a delay, with the last being in 1986, when Reagan delayed the speech a week due to the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger on January 28.

The message itself in the address also began in quite a boring way – consisting mostly of reports, budgets and administrative details. After Wilson’s 1913 speech, however, things changed a little and the messages became more ‘alive’, with presidents seeing the address as an opportunity to gain support and speak not only to Congress, but also to the people.