1868 State of the Union Address

The 1868 State of the Union, was delivered by Andrew Johnson, 17th president of the United States, to the United States Congress on December 9, 1868. Members of the U.S. Senate, the upper house of the bicameral American national legislature, interrupted the reading of the message to pass a motion that it not be read on the floor; members of the lower House of Representatives listened to the written address but passed a motion that it should not be printed at government expense or referred to any committee. The major policy proposal made in the message by lame duck Johnson was that the U.S. government should repudiate bond repayment obligations resulting from the expense of the American Civil War.