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Learning Activity: Examine the history of the U.S. State of the Union address

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(CNN Student News) -- Students will learn about the origin and history of the U.S. State of the Union address.

Procedure

Have student groups conduct an online scavenger hunt to learn about why U.S. presidents deliver State of the Union messages and the history of this practice. Pose the following questions to guide students' research:

After students present their findings, pose the following questions for class discussion: Why do you think that the constitutional framers included the president's annual message? Why do you think that they did not issue additional stipulations for the annual message, such as a time requirement or how the information is to be given to Congress? How does this illustrate the flexibility of the Constitution as a governing document? Do you watch State of the Union addresses? Why or why not?

Correlated Standards

Social Studies

Standard II. Time, Continuity and Change: Students will learn about the ways human beings view themselves in and over time.

Standard VI. Power, Authority and Governance: Students will understand the historical development of structures of power, authority and governance and their evolving functions in contemporary U.S. society as well as other parts of the world.

Standard X. Civic Ideals and Practices: Students will examine the ideals, principles and practices of citizenship in a democratic republic.

The Curriculum Standards for Social Studies (http://www.socialstudies.org/standards/) are published by the National Council for Social Studies (http://ncss.org/).

Civics

Standard II. What are the foundations of the American political system?

1. The American idea of constitutional government. Students should be able to explain the central ideas of American constitutional government and their history.

2. How American constitutional government has shaped the character of American society. Students should be able to explain the extent to which Americans have internalized the values and principles of the Constitution and attempted to make its ideals realities.

The National Standards for Civics and Government (http://www.civiced.org/912erica.htm) are published by the Center for Civic Education (http://www.civiced.org/index.html)

Keywords

State of the Union address, President George W. Bush, U.S. Constitution, Congress

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