George Washington, “First Annual Message to Congress” (“State of the Union”), January 8, 1790.
Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of publick happiness
Nor am I less persuaded, that you will agree with me in opinion, that there is nothing which can better deserve your patronage, than the promotion of Science and Literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of publick happiness. In one, in which the measures of government receive their impression so immediately from the sense of the community, as in our’s, it is proportionately essential. To the security of a free Constitution it contributes in various ways: By convincing those who are entrusted with the publick 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 discern and provide against invasions of them; 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.
Complete Text: The Avalon Project- Yale Law School
President George Washington first established the practice of reporting to Congress once a year. Washington gave his first annual message—what is now known as the State of the Union—to Congress on January 8th, 1790. He addressed Congress in person in the Senate Chamber of Federal Hall in New York City (the temporary seat of government at that time).
