1859 State of the Union Address

The 1859 State of the Union Address was written by James Buchanan, the 15th President of the United States. It was read to both houses of congress on December 19, 1859, by a clerk. Predicting the American Civil War, he stated, "Whilst it is the duty of the President "from time to time to give to Congress information of the state of the Union," I shall not refer in detail to the recent sad and bloody occurrences at Harpers Ferry. Still, it is proper to observe that these events, however bad and cruel in themselves, derive their chief importance from the apprehension that they are but symptoms of an incurable disease in the public mind, which may break out in still more dangerous outrages and terminate at last in an open war by the North to abolish slavery in the South." ^[1]

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State of the Union addresses
Addresses	Delivered as a speech 1790 1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1800 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1975 1976 1977 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Delivered as a written message 1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1946 1953 1961 1981 Delivered as both 1972 1974 1978 1979 1980 Delivered as a written message to Congress, summary delivered to public 1945 1956 1973 Unofficial addresses 1989 1993 2001 2009
Related	Opposition party's response Designated survivor United States presidential address Joint Session of Congress (List) List of "Lenny Skutniks" Monroe Doctrine
Regional speeches	State of the State address State of the City address