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Lectures in History

History of State of the Union Addresses

Lectures in History

C-SPAN

News, History, Politics

4.2737 Ratings

🗓️ 5 February 2023

⏱️ 69 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Stonehill College professor Peter Ubertaccio taught a class on the history of State of the Union addresses. He described George Washington's first address -- delivered in person -- but explained that many presidents who followed simply elected to send Congress a written statement until Woodrow Wilson in 1913. He explored how, since then, State of the Union speeches have evolved along with new technology and, in modern times, have been used to bolster political platforms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

This week on the Lectures and History podcast, a discussion about the history of State of the Union addresses.

0:10.0

Stonehill College Professor Peter Ubertaceo describes George Washington's first address.

0:16.0

He explores how since then State of the Union speeches have evolved along with new technology and, in modern times,

0:22.1

have been used to bolster political platforms.

0:26.3

So today we are going to discuss the State of the Union address.

0:31.1

And we're going to do it by using Jeffrey Toulas to our benefit.

0:35.6

So just to recap a little bit.

0:38.4

The State of the Union address straddles the two constitutional presidencies that Jeffrey Toulis defined in your readings.

0:45.7

The first one, as you recall, that first Big C constitutional presidency, these are the formal

0:52.8

rules and procedures that define our system.

0:57.5

And also, the formal expectations placed upon the executive during the founding era.

1:04.8

The Big C constitutional presidency is one that proscribes popular leadership.

1:11.6

The second one, the small C constitutional presidency,

1:16.6

this is a creation of our progressive presidents,

1:20.6

and it has been built up since the time of Woodrow Wilson.

1:24.6

And the small C constitutional presidency prescribes popular leadership.

1:31.3

It demands it of presidents.

1:34.3

And if you recall from your readings, that big C, formal structure of the Constitution,

1:41.3

and the small C, popular presidency, that these exist

1:45.8

uneasily with one another in the modern era. We'll pick up on this again later today.

1:53.7

We discussed earlier in the semester that, in part, thanks to our friend Governor Morris,

2:04.7

Article 2 of the Constitution has far less specificity in it than Article 1. Does anyone recall why that is the case? Grace? Hamilton wanted

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