US Constitution – Article II Section 3 and 4
Posted by tx on June 29, 2009 under Hidden truths, Home Page, Principles and Values, US Constitution | 
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Section 3 – State of the Union, Convening Congress
He 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; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.
Section 4 – Disqualification
The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
The State of the Union address is given to both houses of Congress each year. On January 8, 1790 George Washington personally delivered the first annual message to Congress. In recent history a President will outline his agenda for the nation during his State of the Union address. George Washington used the first yearly address to focus on the union which had been recently created. George Washington’s primary concern was to establish and maintain the union which had been created.
It wasn’t until 1923 that the speech was broadcast – first on the radio by Calvin Coolidge. Before that time it was printed in the newspapers. President Truman was the first president to give his “state of the union” on television. Franklin Roosevelt was the first president to refer to the speech as a “state of the union”. The Constitution does not specify a particular date for the speech, though since the first given by Washington, it is customary to give the speech in late January after the Congress re-convenes.
Thomas Jefferson preferred to carry out his constitutional duty in 1801 by “sending details of his national priorities in written notes to the House and Senate. His successors continued the practice until Woodrow Wilson in 1913. Now that the speech is televised on major news networks, both radio and tv, the speech has become an opportunity for the President to promote his political party. And by giving the speech over the “airwaves”, the President hopes to obtain support for his agenda from the American people.
High Crimes and Misdemeanors –”High Crimes and Misdemeanors” are (1) real criminality — breaking a law; (2) abuses of power; (3) “violation of public trust” as defined by Alexander Hamilton in the Federalist Papers. In 1970, then Representative Gerald R. Ford defined impeachable offenses as “whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history.” For an excellent discussion on the history of impeachments of Presidents, go to About.com .
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