Q&A: Trump and the state of the union address
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Constitution spells it out clearly in Article II, Section 3: 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.”
But the modern state of the union address — the pageantry, the televised address and the agendasetting message — is a far more recent tradition.
A brief look at the history of the State of the Union address:
Q: Who delivered the first state of the union address?
George Washington on Jan. 8, 1790, in New York.
Q: Does it have to be a speech?
No. For his first address on Dec. 8, 1801, Thomas Jefferson sent written copies to both houses of Congress to be read by each chamber’s clerks. Jefferson wanted to simplify what he believed was an aristocratic imitation of the British monarch’s speech from the throne, which he thought ill-suited for a republic. The practice of sending written copies to Congress continued for more than a century.
Woodrow Wilson later resumed the tradition of delivering the annual message in person on April 8, 1913. He’s also credited with transforming the speech from a report on executive branch activity into a blueprint for the president’s legislative agenda for the year.
Q: When did the annual message become known as the state of the union address?
Franklin D. Roosevelt applied the constitutional phrase “state of the union” to both the message and the event. It became the popular terminology from then on.