1982 State of the Union Address was delivered by Senator Donald Riegle (MI), Senator James Sasser (TN), Rep. Albert Gore Jr. (TN), Senator Robert Byrd (W.Va), Senator Edward Kennedy (MA), House Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill III (MA), Senator Gary Hart (CO), Senator Paul Sarbanes (MD), Senator J. Bennett Johnston (LA), and Senator Alan Cranston (CA). 1982 State of the Union Address The 1982 State of the Union address was given by President Ronald Reagan to a joint session of the 97th United States Congress on Tuesday, January 26, 1982. The speech was the first State of the Union address of President Reagan's first term. The speech
Admission to the Union States was governed by a unicameral Congress, the Congress of the Confederation, which operated under authority granted to it by the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution. The 11th Article authorized Congress to admit new states to the Union provided nine states consented. Under the Articles, each state cast one vote on each proposed measure in Congress. During this period, the Confederation Congress enacted two ordinances governing the admission of new states into the Union. The first such ordinance was the Land Ordinance of 1784, enacted April 23, 1784. Thomas Jefferson was its principal author. The Ordinance called for