George Washington delivered the first State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on Jan. 8, 1790. The Founding Fathers had directed the president to do so, writing in Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution that “he shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”
The State of the Union is, in a word, stately. In a ceremony full of pomp and circumstance, the House Sergeant at Arms stands just inside the Senate doors, faces the Speaker of the House, and loudly declares: “Mister Speaker, the President of the United States!”
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