zeal for its welfare can inspire. It will be happy for us both, and our
best reward, if, by a successful administration of our respective trusts,
we can make the established Government more and more instrumental in
promoting the good of our fellow citizens, and more and more the object of
their attachment and confidence.

GO. WASHINGTON

***

State of the Union Address
George Washington
October 25, 1791

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:

"In vain may we expect peace with the Indians on our frontiers so long as a
lawless set of unprincipled wretches can violate the rights of hospitality,
or infringe the most solemn treaties, without receiving the punishment they
so justly merit."

I meet you upon the present occasion with the feelings which are naturally
inspired by a strong impression of the prosperous situations of our common
country, and by a persuasion equally strong that the labors of the session
which has just commenced will, under the guidance of a spirit no less
prudent than patriotic, issue in measures conducive to the stability and
increase of national prosperity.

Numerous as are the providential blessings which demand our grateful
acknowledgments, the abundance with which another year has again rewarded