Seven Virginians: The Men Who Shaped Our Republic by John B. Boles

Author:John B. Boles
Format: epub

Washington and Adams had annually delivered what we today call a State of the Union address to Congress. Because Jefferson knew he had few oratorical skills and felt the practice bore too close a resemblance to the British custom of having the monarch deliver an address to Parliament, he simply submitted to both houses a written annual message, which he had carefully worked upon and circulated to his cabinet for their ideas before crafting the final version. (More than a century later, Woodrow Wilson would resurrect the spoken State of the Union address.) His first annual message was delivered to the Congress on December 8, 1801. Jefferson noted that relations with Native Americans in the West were peaceful, as were relations with the nations of Europe, although the pirates of the Barbary States were troublesome. He reported that with good relations now with both France and Britain, commerce would soon so thrive that import duties would pay all government expenses and allow the national debt to be reduced. All other forms of taxes could be eliminated, internal tax officials could be retired, and the government could prosper by such frugality. The size of the regular army could be significantly reduced, and the navy could lay by most of its frigates and depend on smaller gunboats for coastal defense. (Adams had already begun limiting the size of the navy.)

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