George Washington: First Annual Message to Congress

Audience

In addressing his First Annual Message to his “Fellow Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives,” Washington fulfilled one of the constitutional obligations of his office. Thus, his primary audience was the Congress. However, Washington also realized that his speech would be read by Americans throughout the country and foreign diplomats stationed in America. He wanted to show these readers that the executive and legislative branches of the new government were working together amicably.

In a remarkable letter written the day after he delivered his address, Washington commented to Catherine Macaulay Graham, a prominent English historian and philanthropist, that all his actions would be viewed as precedents for his successors. Thus, his address was also aimed at future presidents who might follow his example. Washington also told Graham that he hoped the events of the American Revolution might serve as a pattern for the events emerging in France: “The renovation of the French Constitution is indeed one of the most wonderful events in the history of Mankind” (Washington to Graham, January 9, 1790; Twohig, vol. 4, p. 553). He hoped that the French leadership would be “sufficiently cool & moderate in making arrangements for the security of that liberty, of which it seems to be fully possessed” (Washington to Graham, January 9, 1790; Twohig, vol. 4, p. 553). Perhaps the president's address would encourage French moderates, like the Marquis de Lafayette, to keep the French Revolution on a balanced keel.