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1814 State of the Union Address
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Speech by US President James Madison
February 2026
September 2021
February 2025
1814 State of the Union Address
The President's House by George Munger, 1814-1815 - Crop.jpg
The White House ruins after the conflagration of August 24, 1814. Watercolor by George Munger, displayed at the White House
1814 09 20
House Chamber, United States CapitolJoint Meetings, Joint Sessions, & Inaugurations US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives https://history.house.gov/Institution/Joint-Sessions/Joint-Sessions/ history.house.gov 25 September 2024 en
Washington, D.C.
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State of the Union Address
James MadisonElbridge GerryHenry Clay
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1815 State of the Union Address
The 1814 State of the Union Address was given by the fourth president of the United States, James Madison, to the 13th United States Congress. It was given on Tuesday, September 20, 1814, during the height of the War of 1812. It was given during President Madison's turbulent second term.
One month after he gave the speech, the British burning of Washington occurred on August 24, and President Madison fled and lived in The Octagon House. Madison lived there until 1816, until the White House could be rebuilt. The three key points are:
"Negotiations on foot with Great Britain, whether it should require arrangements adapted to a return of peace or further and more effective provisions for prosecuting the war.
"Government of Great Britain that her hostile orders against our commerce would not be revoked but on conditions as impossible as unjust, whilst it was known that these orders would not otherwise cease but with a war which had lasted nearly twenty years, and which, according to appearances at that time, might last as many more; having manifested on every occasion and in every proper mode a sincere desire to arrest the effusion of blood and meet our enemy on the ground of justice and reconciliation,
"Availing himself of fortuitous advantages, he is aiming with his undivided force a deadly blow at our growing prosperity, perhaps at our national existence. He has avowed his purpose of trampling on the usages of civilized warfare, and given earnests of it in the plunder and wanton destruction of private property."https://www.infoplease.com/primary-sources/government/presidential-speeches/state-union-address-james-madison-september-20-1814 State of the Union Address: James Madison (September 20, 1814) www.infoplease.com The Prince Regent proceeded with the War. King George IV, who was then Prince of Wales, was serving as Regent because his father, King George III was too mentally ill to sign executive orders funding the war.
References
James Madison's Sixth State of the Union Address 1814 State of the Union Address
1813 State of the Union Address 1815 State of the Union Address State of the Union addresses 1 1814
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