Sixth Grade
Worksheets
State of the Union
Caption: President John F. Kennedy gives his State of the Union Address on January 14, 1963.
According to the Constitution, one of the president's jobs is to report to Congress "from time to time" about how our country is doing. Over the years, this has become an annual report known as the State of the Union Address.
In years past, a written report was sometimes sent to the Senators and Representatives on Capitol Hill. Now the report is given in a speech before a joint session of Congress. In it, the president talks about accomplishments of the year gone by. He may also set out his agenda for the upcoming year.
George Washington gave the first State of the Union message. In his speech, he talked about hostilities between the United States and Native Americans. In one of his State of the Union messages, Thomas Jefferson talked about wars in Europe. Abraham Lincoln gave a State of the Union message in which he discussed our relations with South American countries.
In their messages, many presidents have talked about war and peace. In 1932, Herbert Hoover said, "Our country is at peace." In 1942, Franklin D. Roosevelt talked about the bombing of Pearl Harbor. In 2003, George W. Bush made the controversial statement that Saddam Hussein, the leader of Iraq, had tried to buy uranium, which is used to make nuclear weapons. In 2007, he talked about the War in Iraq.
