As President Joe Biden prepares to deliver his State of the Union address to Congress, it's interesting to look back at the history of this annual tradition in American politics.
The first State of the Union address was delivered by George Washington on January 8, 1790, in New York. However, it was Thomas Jefferson who decided to send written copies of his address to Congress in 1801, rather than delivering a speech in person, to break away from what he saw as an aristocratic tradition.
