President Biden’s State of the Union address

President Biden will deliver his second State of the Union tonight at 9 p.m. ET, and his third address to a joint session of Congress.

Tuesday’s address will be his first in front of a divided Congress, after Republicans won control of the House in November.

While all US presidents are constitutionally obligated to deliver an annual update on the state of the country to Congress, for most of American history they were delivered as written messages.

This will be the 106th time a president has delivered either address as an in-person speech before Congress.

The US Constitution requires the president to brief Congress on the state of the union. Article II, Section 3, Constitution says:

“He [the President] shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”

Some historical background: The idea for a State of the Union address originated from a ritual from the British monarchy. The king or queen gives a speech from the throne at the opening session of the British Parliament.

The US State of the Union address used to be known as “the President’s Annual Message to Congress.” Franklin Roosevelt titled his 1934 speech, “Annual Message to Congress on the State of the Union,” according to his papers.

According to the House Clerk’s office, the speech was informally referred to as “the State of the Union” from 1942 to 1946. It was first officially called the “State of the Union” address in 1947 under Harry Truman.

George Washington delivered the first “annual message” on Jan. 8, 1790, at Federal Hall in New York. 

Washington and his successor, John Adams, both delivered their annual messages as speeches before Congress. Thomas Jefferson, the third president, discontinued this practice in 1801, saying the elaborate, formal ceremony (which included a “president’s throne”) too closely resembled a king addressing his subjects.

Instead, Jefferson’s private secretary carried the written message to Capitol Hill, and it was read to the chamber by the Clerk of the House. The practice of written annual messages continued for 112 years. President Woodrow Wilson resumed the practice of addressing Congress in person in 1913.

Two presidents, Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1945 and Dwight Eisenhower in 1956, sent written messages to Congress but also delivered radio addresses to the nation that summarized their congressional notes. 

CNN’s Robert Yoon, Adam Levy and Liz Stark contributed reporting to this post.