State of the Union Addresses is a collection of four speeches held to the American Congress by Franklin Pierce, who served as the 14th president of the United States from 1853 to 1857. Excerpt: "Although disease, assuming at one time the characteristics of a widespread and devastating pestilence, has left its sad traces upon some portions of our country, we have still the most abundant cause for reverent thankfulness to God for an accumulation of signal mercies showered upon us as a nation. It is well that a consciousness of rapid advancement and increasing strength be habitually associated with an abiding sense of dependence upon Him who holds in His hands the destiny of men and of nations."