1798 State of the Union Address

The 1798 State of the Union Address was delivered by John Adams, second president of the United States, on Saturday, December 8, 1798, in the Congress Hall of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Adams compares the sickness affecting various coastal cities in 1797 to the dispensations of the Tribulation. He called upon the Congress to pass public health laws to prevent the spread of disease through interstate commerce. He also suggests the establishment of "a system which, while it may tend to preserve the general health, may be compatible with the interests of commerce and the safety of the revenue."

Adams attributes the subsidence of disease to the Divine Providence of the Supreme Being. He notes the enthusiasm and nationalism of Americans in dealing with foreign aggression; notably from France by sea and Spain by land through illegal garrisons in the southern U.S. frontiers.