US Presidency
1977

The state of the Union is a measurement of the many elements of which it is composed, a political union of diverse states, an economic union of varying interests, an intellectual union of common convictions, and a moral union of immutable ideals. Taken in sum, I can report that the state of the Union is good. There is room for improvement, as always, but today we have a more perfect Union than when my stewardship began. As a people we discovered that our Bicentennial was much more than a celebration of the past; it became a joyous reaffirmation of all that it means to be Americans, a confirmation before all the world of the vitality and durability of our free institutions. I am proud to have been privileged to preside over the affairs of our federal government during these eventful years when we proved, as I said in my first words upon assuming office, that our Constitution works; our great Republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule.