Sunday, January 8 — On this date in 1790, President George Washington addressed a joint session of Congress to deliver the first State of the Union report, as required by the still young Constitution. The requirement didn’t demand a speech, and after delivering just one, President Thomas Jefferson began reporting in writing, feeling a speech was too magisterial. The spoken presentation was revived over a century later by Woodrow Wilson. Washington’s address has echoes to this day, as he stated “the terms on which foreigners may be admitted to the rights of citizens should be speedily ascertained by a uniform rule of naturalization.” The first U.S. census, taken just months later, counted a population of just over 3.9 million residents. Today’s foreign-born population of 41 million is over 10 times that number.
You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online here.
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