George Washington

The First State of the Union Address

Though there were ten Presidents of the United States under the Articles of Confederation between 1781 and 1789, George Washington was the first under our present Constitution. He was sworn in on April 30, 1789 and gave the first State of the Union Address January 8, 1790; 232 years ago. He gave the address in…

Ratification of the Articles of Confederation

On March 1, 1781, the first constitution of the United States, called the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, officially became the first American covenant of law.  Since the ratification required all 13 colonies to agree before it could be finalized, there were 39 months between the first colony, Virginia, who ratified in December of…