I have directed the proper officers to lay before you, respectively, such
papers and estimates as regard the affairs particularly recommended to your
consideration, and necessary to convey to you that information of the state
of the Union which it is my duty to afford.

The welfare of our country is the great object to which our cares and
efforts ought to be directed, and I shall derive great satisfaction from a
cooperation with you in the pleasing though arduous task of insuring to our
fellow citizens the blessings which they have a right to expect from a
free, efficient, and equal government.

***

State of the Union Address
George Washington
December 8, 1790

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:

In meeting you again I feel much satisfaction in being able to repeat my
congratulations on the favorable prospects which continue to distinguish
our public affairs. The abundant fruits of another year have blessed our
country with plenty and with the means of a flourishing commerce.

The progress of public credit is witnessed by a considerable rise of
American stock abroad as well as at home, and the revenues allotted for
this and other national purposes have been productive beyond the
calculations by which they were regulated. This latter circumstance is the
more pleasing, as it is not only a proof of the fertility of our resources,
but as it assures us of a further increase of the national respectability