The Ostend Manifesto, also known as the Ostend Circular, was a document written in 1854 that described the rationale for the United States to purchase Cuba from Spain while implying that the U.S. should declare war if Spain refused. Cuba's annexation had long been a goal of U.S. slaveholding expansionists. At the national level, American leaders had been satisfied to have the island remain in weak Spanish hands so long as it did not pass to a stronger power such as Britain or France. The Ostend Manifesto proposed a shift in foreign policy, justifying the use of force to seize Cuba in the name of national security. It resulted from debates over slavery in the United States, manifest destiny, and the Monroe Doctrine, as slaveholders sought new territory for the expansion of slavery.
The Glassboro Summit Conference, usually just called the Glassboro Summit, was the 23–25 June 1967 meeting of the heads of government of the United States and the Soviet Union—President Lyndon B. Johnson and Premier Alexei Kosygin, respectively—for the purpose of discussing Soviet Union–United States relations in Glassboro, New Jersey. During the Arab–Israeli Six-Day War diplomatic contact and cooperation increased, leading some to hope for an improvement in the two countries' relations. Some even hoped for joint cooperation on the Vietnam War. Although Johnson and Kosygin failed to reach agreement on anything important, the generally amicable atmosphere of the summit was referred to as the "Spirit of Glassboro" and is seen to have improved Soviet–US relations.
The Second Bill of Rights or Bill of Economic Rights was proposed by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt during his State of the Union Address on Tuesday, January 11, 1944. In his address, Roosevelt suggested that the nation had come to recognise and should now implement a "Second bill of rights". Roosevelt argued that the "political rights" guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights had "proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness". His remedy was to declare an "economic bill of rights" to guarantee these specific rights:
The "Day of Infamy" speech, sometimes referred to as the Infamy speech, was a speech delivered by Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States, to a joint session of Congress on December 8, 1941. The previous day, the Empire of Japan attacked United States military bases at Pearl Harbor and the Philippines, and declared war on the United States and the British Empire. The speech is known for its famed first line, which opened with Roosevelt saying, "Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy..."
The presidency of Franklin Pierce began on March 4, 1853, when Franklin Pierce was inaugurated as the 14th President of the United States, and ended on March 4, 1857. Pierce, a Democrat from New Hampshire, took office after defeating Whig Party nominee Winfield Scott in the 1852 presidential election. Seen by fellow Democrats as pleasant and accommodating to all the party's factions, Pierce, then a little-known politician, won the presidential nomination on the 49th ballot of the 1852 Democratic National Convention. His hopes for reelection ended after losing the Democratic nomination at the 1856 Democratic National Convention, and was succeeded by Democrat James Buchanan.
The first inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt as the 32nd president of the United States was held on Saturday, March 4, 1933, at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the 37th inauguration, and marked the commencement of the first term of Franklin D. Roosevelt as president and John Nance Garner as vice president.
The 1816 State of the Union Address was the last annual address given by President James Madison, the fourth president of the United States.
The 1846 State of the Union Address was presented to the 29th United States Congress, containing both the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives on Tuesday, December 8, 1846. It was the 56th address given. President James K. Polk, the 11th president, had written it. It was written during the Mexican–American War, and addresses it. "The existing war with Mexico was neither desired nor provoked by the United States."
The state of union is an address, in the United States, given by the president to a joint session of Congress, the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate. The United States constitution requires the president "from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union." Today the state of the union address is given as a speech, though this is not a requirement of the constitution. George Washington chose to address the congress in a speech annually; on October 25, 1791, he gave his third speech.
The 1956 State of the Union Address was delivered by Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th president of the United States, on Friday, January 5, 1956, to both houses of the 84th United States Congress in written format. Eisenhower did not deliver a speech before a joint session of Congress because he had suffered a major heart attack four months prior and was recovering in Key West, Florida. Instead, Eisenhower opted to pre-record remarks from his office at the Naval Air Station in Key West summarizing his State of the Union Address which were broadcast to the nation in the evening on January 5.
The 1929 State of the Union Address was given by Herbert Hoover, the 31st United States President on Tuesday, December 3, 1929, to both houses of the 71st United States Congress. This is the first State of the Union Address that Herbert Hoover would give to the Congress, and the 1929 Stock Market Crash had just begun. He said,
The 1934 State of the Union Address was given on Wednesday, January 3, 1934, by the 32nd president of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was the first State of the Union address to be given in January since George Washington's first State of the Union Address in 1790.
The 1901 State of the Union Address was given on Tuesday, December 3, 1901, by the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt. It was presented to both houses of the 57th United States Congress, but he was not present. He stated, "The Congress assembles this year under the shadow of a great calamity. On the sixth of September, President McKinley was shot by an anarchist while attending the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, and died in that city on the fourteenth of that month." He concluded it with, "Indeed, from every quarter of the civilized world we received, at the time of the President's death, assurances of such grief and regard as to touch the hearts of our people. In the midst of our affliction we reverently thank the Almighty that we are at peace with the nations of mankind; and we firmly intend that our policy shall be such as to continue unbroken these international relations of mutual respect and good will."
The 1970 State of the Union Address was given by Richard Nixon, the 37th United States president, on January 22, 1970, to both houses of the 91st United States Congress. He said, "I say this not only because 1970 marks the beginning of a new decade in which America will celebrate its 200th birthday. The seventies will be a time of new beginnings, a time of exploring both on the earth and in the heavens, a time of discovery. But the time has also come for emphasis on developing better ways of managing what we have and of completing what man's genius has begun but left unfinished.
The 1864 State of the Union Address was given by Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. It was presented to the United States Congress on Tuesday, December 6, 1864. It was given right before the end of the American Civil War. He said: "The war continues. Since the last annual message all the important lines and positions then occupied by our forces have been maintained and our arms have steadily advanced, thus liberating the regions left in rear, so that Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and parts of other States have again produced reasonably fair crops. The most remarkable feature in the military operations of the year is General Sherman's attempted march of 300 miles directly through the insurgent region."
The 1852 State of the Union Address was given by the 13th president of the United States, Millard Fillmore, on Monday, December 6, 1852. It was spoken to the 32nd United States Congress by a clerk, not the president. He said, "Besides affording to our own citizens a degree of prosperity of which on so large a scale I know of no other instance, our country is annually affording a refuge and a home to multitudes, altogether without example, from the Old World. We owe these blessings, under Heaven, to the happy Constitution and Government which were bequeathed to us by our fathers, and which it is our sacred duty to transmit in all their integrity to our children."
The 1824 State of the Union Address was written by James Monroe, the 5th president of the United States. Delivered to the 18th United States Congress on Tuesday, December 7, 1824. James Monroe presided over the Era of Good Feelings. He began with, "The view which I have now to present to you of our affairs, foreign and domestic, realizes the most sanguine anticipations which have been entertained of the public prosperity. If we look to the whole, our growth as a nation continues to be rapid beyond example;" He ended with, "From the present prosperous and happy state I derive a gratification which I can not express. That these blessings may be preserved and perpetuated will be the object of my fervent and unceasing prayers to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe." In the middle of the address, Mr. Monroe said, "There is no object which as a people we can desire which we do not possess or which is not within our reach. Blessed with governments the happiest which the world ever knew, with no distinct orders in society or divided interests in any portion of the vast territory over which their dominion extends, we have every motive to cling together which can animate a virtuous and enlightened people." James Monroe, a founder of his country, predicts that his country will become a world power, and must animate with virtue and enlightenment.
The 1866 State of the Union Address was given by Andrew Johnson, the 17th president of the United States, on Monday, December 3, 1866. This State of the Union was not a spoken address, but a written one. The Reconstruction Era had begun, and Johnson wanted a policy that pardoned the leaders of the Confederate States of America. He began with, "In all of the States civil authority has superseded the coercion of arms, and the people, by their voluntary action, are maintaining their governments in full activity and complete operation." In the middle, he said, "In our efforts to preserve "the unity of government which constitutes as one people" by restoring the States to the condition which they held prior to the rebellion, we should be cautious, lest, having rescued our nation from perils of threatened disintegration, we resort to consolidation, and in the end absolute despotism, as a remedy for the recurrence of similar troubles." The rebellion he is referring to is the American Civil War, which ended in 1865.
The 1862 State of the Union Address was written by the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, and delivered to the 37th United States Congress, on Monday, December 1, 1862, amid the ongoing American Civil War.
The 1853 State of the Union Address was delivered by the 14th president of the United States, Franklin Pierce, to the 33rd United States Congress on December 5, 1853. This address marked Pierce's first annual message to Congress, emphasizing themes of national prosperity, international relations, and the importance of federal restraint in domestic policy. Pierce opened by celebrating the peace and prosperity the United States was experiencing, calling it "a time of remarkable progress" and "unusual blessings." He emphasized the importance of national integrity and suggested that the nation's success was sustained by the favor of Providence.
