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George Washington delivered the first State of the Union message before a combined assembly of the Senate and the House on 8 January 1790 in New York City, then the provisional U.S. capital:

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and the House of Representatives:

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 (of which official information has been received), the rising credit and respectability of our country, and 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.

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Featured January 2009