Handout: the State of the Union Address

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The State of the Union Address Name:______________________________________________ Teaching with the News Online Resource 1 The State of the Union Address Exploring the Constitution Instructions: Read the excerpt below from the U.S. Constitution. Mark any words or phrases that you do not understand. Then, rewrite the excerpt in your own words in the blank space below. Be prepared to share your answer with your classmates. [The president] 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.” – Article II, Section 3, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution Video – Inside the White House, “The State of the Union Address” Instructions: As you watch the official White House video on the State of the Union Address, answer the following questions. 1. What two facts did you learn from the video about the State of the Union Address? • • 2. How did technology, especially the television, change the role of the State of the Union Address? Facts about the State of the Union Address • In 1790, George Washington began the tradition of delivering an annual address, then called the “Annual Message,” before a joint session of Congress. • In 1801, Thomas Jefferson submitted an Annual Message to the House and Senate in writing instead of offering a speech. • It was not until 1913, the year that Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated as president, that the Annual Message was delivered in person again. • The Annual Message became known as the State of the Union Address in 1947. • President Obama’s State of the Union Address on January 12, 2016 marks the 95th annual presiden- tial speech given in person. WWW.CHOICES.EDU ■ WATSON INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, BROWN UNIVERSITY ■ CHOICES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY EDUCATION PROGRAM ■ .

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The Four Freedoms
ACTIVITY 1.9 WWhathat IIss FFreedom?reedom? ACTIVITY 1.9 PLAN Suggested Pacing: 2 50-minute Learning Targets class periods • Analyze the use of rhetorical features in an argumentative text. LEARNING STRATEGIES: SOAPSTone, Socratic • Compare how a common theme is expressed in different texts. Seminar TEACH • Present, clarify, and challenge ideas in order to propel conversations. 1 Read the Preview and the Setting Preview a Purpose for Reading sections with In this activity, you will read a speech delivered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt My Notes your students. Help them understand and two parts of the Constitution of the United States to root your thinking in the that they will be reading seminal foundational documents of the nation. texts of the United States to compare Setting a Purpose for Reading definitions offreedom . These texts are primary sources. Remind • Underline words and phrases that define freedom. students that primary sources are • Highlight words and phrases that describe the concepts of America and American. valuable, and context is important in • Put a star next to particularly moving rhetoric. understanding them. • Circle unknown words and phrases. Try to determine the meaning of the words 2 FIRST READ: Based on the by using context clues, word parts, or a dictionary. complexity of the passage and your knowledge of your students, you ABOUT THE AUTHOR may choose to conduct the first President Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered this State of the Union speech reading in a variety of ways: on January 6, 1941. The speech outlines four key human rights. It acted as a reminder to the nation of the reasons for supporting Great Britain in its fight • independent reading against Germany.
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt the State of the Union Address to Congress (Excerpts) Delivered January 6, 1941
1 Franklin Delano Roosevelt The State of the Union Address to Congress (excerpts) Delivered January 6, 1941 Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Seventy-seventh Congress: I address you, the Members of the Seventy-seventh Congress, at a moment unprecedented in the history of the Union. I use the word “unprecedented,” because at no previous time has American security been as seriously threatened from without as it is today. Every realist knows that the democratic way of life is at this moment being directly assailed in every part of the world. The assailants are still on the march, threatening other nations, great and small. Therefore, as your President, performing my constitutional duty to “give to the Congress information of the state of the Union,” I find it, unhappily, necessary to report that the future and the safety of our country and of our democracy are overwhelmingly involved in events far beyond our borders. Those who man our defenses, and those behind them who build our defenses, must have the stamina and the courage which come from unshakable belief in the manner of life which they are defending. In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression—everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way—everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want—which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants—everywhere in the world.
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State of the Union Address – Timeline
State of the Union Address – Timeline 1790: President George Washington delivers the first "annual message of the president." 1801: Thomas Jefferson, believing the tradition of speaking to Congress is too "royal," sends his annual message in a letter. The written tradition continues for over a century. 1823: President James Monroe sends a letter to Congress which outlines the Monroe Doctrine opposing European intervention in the Americas. 1862: As Civil War battles rage, Abraham Lincoln sends his famous "last best hope" annual message to Congress. 1913: Woodrow Wilson revives the tradition of delivering the annual message in a speech to Congress. 1945: Franklin Roosevelt's speech formally becomes known as "The State of the Union." 1965: As the power of television becomes increasingly clear, Lyndon Johnson shifts the State of the Union address from midday to evening to attract a larger audience. 1986: The State of the Union is postponed for the first time after the space shuttle Challenger explodes the morning of the scheduled address. 1999: President Clinton delivers a State of the Union to a House of Representatives that has impeached him and a Senate considering his removal. 2002: In a post-September 11th world, President George W. Bush’s second State of the Union address focuses on domestic security and the “war on terror.” He signals out Iraq, Iran and North Korea for pursuing weapons of mass destruction, calling them “an axis of evil.” 2011: President Barack Obama delivered his second address amid a long-struggling economy and partisan arguments over the budget. Obama called for Americans to look forward with hope and invest in innovation and international competitiveness.
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Four Freedoms
1 Franklin Delano Roosevelt The State of the Union Address to Congress Delivered January 6, 1941 Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Seventy-seventh Congress: I address you, the Members of the Seventy-seventh Congress, at a moment unprecedented in the history of the Union. I use the word “unprecedented,” because at no previous time has American security been as seriously threatened from without as it is today. Since the permanent formation of our Government under the Constitution, in 1789, most of the periods of crisis in our history have related to our domestic affairs. Fortunately, only one of these—the four-year War Between the States—ever threatened our national unity. Today, thank God, one hundred and thirty million Americans, in forty-eight States, have forgotten points of the compass in our national unity. It is true that prior to 1914 the United States often had been disturbed by events in other Continents. We had even engaged in two wars with European nations and in a number of undeclared wars in the West Indies, in the Mediterranean and in the Pacific for the maintenance of American rights and for the principles of peaceful commerce. But in no case had a serious threat been raised against our national safety or our continued independence. What I seek to convey is the historic truth that the United States as a nation has at all times maintained clear, definite opposition, to any attempt to lock us in behind an ancient Chinese wall while the procession of civilization went past. Today, thinking of our children and of their children, we oppose enforced isolation for ourselves or for any other part of the Americas.
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