January 8, 1790
George Washington delivered the first State of the Union Address, speaking about issues that still concern us today. Regarding guns, he said “A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined; to which end a uniform and well-digested plan is requisite . . .”
Regarding the obligation of the government to promote science and literature, he said: “To the security of a free constitution it contributes in various ways—by convincing those who are intrusted with the public administration that every valuable end of government is best answered by the enlightened confidence of the people, and by teaching the people themselves to know and to value their own rights; to discern and provide against invasions of them; to distinguish between oppression and the necessary exercise of lawful authority; between burthens proceeding from a disregard to their convenience and those resulting from the inevitable exigencies of society; to discriminate the spirit of liberty from that of licentiousness—cherishing the first, avoiding the last—and uniting a speedy but temperate vigilance against encroachments, with an inviolable respect to the laws.”
