“A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined.”
January 8, 1790. George Washington walked into the Senate Chamber of Federal Hall in New York City and delivered his first annual message to a joint session of Congress. Today, we call it the State of the Union.
In his speech, Washington set the standard for how a president should act. From the clothes he wore to how he approached the separation of powers in the Constitution, to his support for an educated and armed people, ready to defend their own constitution and liberty.
Once you read just what he said and did, it’s pretty obvious this blueprint has been betrayed for a long, long time.
ANTI-SPECTACLE
Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution mandates a simple, but important task for the President: reporting to Congress.
“He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”
Washington treated it as duty, not theater. No applause lines. No guests. No pomp.
In his diary, he simply referred to it as “my speech.”
Washington didn’t just talk about American independence or how to preserve a free republic. He walked the walk, even in the clothes he wore.
He could have dressed like a general or an aristocrat. He chose neither. As the Virginia Herald reported, everything on him was American made.
“was dressed in a crow coloured suit of clothes, of American manufacture … This elegant fabric was from the manufactory in Hartford.”
Even the buttons, Washington noted, were 100% American-made.
He didn’t waste anyone’s time either. At 1,089 words, it remains the shortest State of the Union in history. But the impact was still massive.
UNION OF CONSENT
Washington kicked off his address by celebrating some good news.
“I embrace with great satisfaction the opportunity which now presents itself of congratulating you on the present favorable prospects of our public affairs.”
First on the list, after nearly 18 months as an independent republic, North Carolina had finally decided to join the union.
“The recent accession of the important state of North Carolina to the Constitution of the United States (of which official information has been received)”
As Dave Benner points out, during that time Washington didn’t act like a conqueror – at all.
“During this time, the United States did not attempt to use coercion against the state, view North Carolina’s status as an independent republic as a ‘rebellion,’ or raise an army to force its approval.”
This proves that the union was voluntary right from the start.
DEFENSE
After celebrating the good news, Washington moved to his top priorities. First on the list? What he called the common defense.
“Among the many interesting objects which will engage your attention that of providing for the common defense will merit particular regard. To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.”
But Washington wasn’t giving us the modern take on defense. Instead, he understood that a truly free country required a heavily armed population.
“A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined; to which end a uniform and well-digested plan is requisite”
Ten days later, Secretary of War Henry Knox spelled that plan out.
“An energetic national militia is to be regarded as the Capital security of a free republic; and not a standing army, forming a distinct class in the community.”
General Knox, like General Washington, wanted the people to be their own first line of defense. Because they – like almost the entire founding generation – understood that large, permanent standing armies are always a great danger to liberty.
And Knox grounded his position in natural rights.
“But whoever seriously and Candidly estimates the power of discipline and the tendency of military habits, will be Constrained to Confess, that whatever may be the efficacy of a standing army in war, it cannot in peace be considered as friendly to the rights of human nature.”
Back to the speech, and Washington wasn’t done. An armed people are essential to a free country, that much was already widely understood from the War for Independence. But that won’t last long if you give up your independence by relying on foreigners for the tools of defense.
“and their safety and interest require that they should promote such manufactories as tend to render them independent of others for essential, particularly military, supplies.”
WAR POWERS
Washington wasn’t speaking in theory. There were active hostilities on the frontier. But instead of deciding to take action on his own, he came to Congress with a status report.
“There was reason to hope that the pacific measures adopted with regard to certain hostile tribes of Indians would have relieved the inhabitants of our southern and western frontiers from their depredations”
He didn’t ask them to just take his word for it, either. He put the documented proof right on the table.
“but you will perceive from the information contained in the papers which I shall direct to be laid before you (comprehending a communication from the Commonwealth of Virginia)”
Despite all this, Washington didn’t move troops. He didn’t issue orders. He wasn’t even asking to act in response. In a show of constitutional restraint that would sound incredible to any modern observer, he was asking Congress for permission to merely prepare militarily, in case there arose a need to punish aggressors later.
“We ought to be prepared to afford protection to those parts of the Union, and, if necessary, to punish aggressors.”
THE MACHINERY
He continued his respect for the constitution’s separation of powers as he went on to ask Congress for the practical machinery of government – naturalization, currency, paying foreign diplomats, post roads, and the like.
Basic government functions, Washington checked those boxes quickly. But then he got to what really mattered for a free republic to survive.
“Nor am I less persuaded that you will agree with me in opinion that there is nothing which can better deserve your patronage than the promotion of science and literature.”
Washington considered education not just the foundation of happiness, but essential to the system under the Constitution.
“Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness. In one in which the measures of government receive their impressions so immediately from the sense of the community as in ours it is proportionably essential.”
His vision for education was explicitly about teaching people to understand their rights, recognize when government violates them, and take action to defend them.
“by teaching the people themselves to know and to value their own rights; to discern and provide against invasions of them”
Washington was calling for the people to be smart enough to stop the government if it got out of line. And to know the difference when it didn’t.
“uniting a speedy but temperate vigilance against encroachments, with an inviolable respect to the laws.”
PUBLIC CREDIT
Washington opened his speech celebrating some wins – like North Carolina joining. But also the improved financial status of the union, which he referred to as “the rising credit and respectability of our country.”
He ended the speech by warning that public credit must be protected.
“I saw with peculiar pleasure at the close of the last session the resolution entered into by you expressive of your opinion that an adequate provision for the support of the public credit is a matter of high importance to the national honor and prosperity.”
Congress was already on record. Washington made sure they knew where he stood.
“In this sentiment I entirely concur.”
THE BLUEPRINT BETRAYED
This is the blueprint, the standard that President George Washington set for what a president looks like under the Constitution.
Washington didn’t act without Congress. He wouldn’t even prepare for military action without their say-so. He asked for basic government machinery, then immediately pivoted to what really mattered: an educated population capable of checking government power.
Every point in his 1,089-word address shows restraint. Constitutional restraint. The kind that treats the legislature as a co-equal branch, not a rubber stamp.
He celebrated a voluntary union, called for well-armed people instead of standing armies, and emphasized protecting public credit.
Compare that to any modern State of the Union. Compare it to any modern presidency.
Here’s how Washington ended his address:
“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.”
The blessings of a free government.
The gap between Washington’s standard and today’s reality isn’t an accident. It’s not drift. It’s a complete betrayal of the blueprint he laid out on January 8, 1790.
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