The Jefferson Literary and Debating Society (commonly known "Jeff Soc") is the oldest continuously existing
collegiate debating society in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
, having been founded on July 14, 1825, in Room Seven,
West Lawn. Named after founder of the University,
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
, the society regularly meets on Friday evenings at Hotel C in the
Academical Village, referred to as "
Jefferson Hall
Jefferson Hall – more formally known as "Hotel C" – is a building on the West Range of the University of Virginia. It is the traditional home of the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society; the term "Jefferson Hall" (or "Jeff Hall" or ...
", "Jeff Hall", or simply "The Hall".
Members have included several
Presidents of the United States, a
British Prime Minister,
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...
, alongside
governors
A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political_regions, political region, ranking under the Head of State, head of state and in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of ...
,
senators and
congresspeople
A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...
. The society also counts itself as the second oldest Greek-lettered organization in the United States, after
Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...
. The Society's Greek-letters are Phi Pi Theta - , initials for (''philoi, patris, theos,'' or "brotherhood, fatherland, divinity"). Its Latin motto, , is taken from Virgil's ''
Aeneid
The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan_War#Sack_of_Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to ...
'' and roughly translates to, "In the future it will be pleasing to remember these things." Room Seven, West Lawn, is also maintained by the Jefferson Society, selecting a Fourth Year student to live there. The Society hosts several events throughout the year including its Distinguished Speaker Series, for which it invites prominent scholars and speakers across disciplines to address students. The Society also hosts formal social events including Wilson's Day, the Restoration Ball, and Founder's Day, first held in 1832.
History
Membership in the society grew rapidly in the early years after its founding. By 1855, the University of Virginia was the second largest university in the nation after
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, enrolling 645 students. That school year, the society admitted 155 new members: nearly a quarter of the student body of the university.
In the hotheaded antebellum years, the society could become raucous. Its elections were condemned by the faculty for "such turbulence as to degrade the reputation of the University."
[Dabney, p. 12] An especially coveted honor was to be selected as "final orator," a post apparently comparable to that of a valedictorian today.
The society played a key role in establishing student journalism at the University, founding the ''University Magazine'' as early as 1856. Later known as the ''Virginia Spectator'', the paper played a major part in University life for a century, with its profile ranging from high seriousness to satire, until being shut down by the president of the university in the late 1950s for obscenity. The Jefferson Society sponsored the magazine for many decades.
Also in 1856, the society expressed its approval of the
caning of Charles Sumner by sending
Preston Brooks a new gold-headed cane to replace his broken one.
Possessions
* ''The Sully Portrait'' is one of the only portraits of Thomas Jefferson painted from life. It was painted by
Thomas Sully and is loaned to the University of Virginia to be displayed in the
Rotunda.
* Edgar Allan Poe signed a minutes book one evening during which he served as secretary pro tem. His signature was later clipped out by Lancelot Blackford in the 1850s, stealing it, yet also saving it from the Great Rotunda Fire in 1895. Society alumni raised money to buy the signature from a collector in the early 1980s, in honor of their friend and fellow alumnus, James F. Perz. The signature is kept in secure storage as part of the University library's special collections.
* Thomas Woodrow Wilson signed one of the roll books during his tenure as the Society's President. Furthermore, the Society's minute books also contain many sets of handwritten minutes signed by Wilson when he was the Society's Secretary.
Notable members
*
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...
, author of "
The Raven"
*
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
, 28th President of the United States
*
Edward Stettinius Jr.
Edward Reilly Stettinius Jr. (October 22, 1900 – October 31, 1949) was an American businessman who served as United States Secretary of State under Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman from 1944 to 1945, and as U.S. Ambassador ...
, Secretary of State and Ambassador to the United Nations
*
Hugh Scott, United States Representative and Senator from Pennsylvania
*
Colgate W. Darden, Governor of Virginia
*
John T. Casteen III
John Thomas Casteen III (born December 11, 1943, in Portsmouth, Virginia) is an American educator. He served as president of the University of Connecticut from 1985 to 1990 and as Professor of English and president of the University of Virginia f ...
, University of Virginia President
*
James Gilmore III, Governor of Virginia
*
Deidre Downs
Deidre Downs Gunn (born July 7, 1980) is an American physician and former beauty pageant titleholder. Downs was Miss Alabama 2004 and later was crowned Miss America 2005.
Education
After graduating from Pelham High School in 1998, Downs attended ...
, Miss America 2005
*
Jamelle Bouie
Jamelle Antoine Bouie (born April 12, 1987) is an American columnist for ''The New York Times''. He was formerly chief political correspondent for ''Slate''. David Uberti, writing in the Columbia Journalism Review in 2019, called Bouie "one of ...
, political correspondent and journalist
*
Barbara M.G. Lynn, Chief United States District Judge
Honorary members
*
James Madison
James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for hi ...
, 4th President of the United States
*
James Monroe, 5th President of the United States
*
Gilbert du Motier
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (, ), was a French aristocrat, freemasonry, freemason and military officer who fought in the Ameri ...
, Marquis de Lafayette
*
Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, former First Lady of the United States
*
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most of ...
, Nobel Prize for Literature recipient
*
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...
, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
turned down an invitation for honorary membership in an August 12, 1825 letter, citing his need to avoid altering his relationship with the University and its students.
Related
* The
Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies
The Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies, commonly known as DiPhi or The Societies, are the original collegiate debating societies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and together comprise the oldest student organization at the Uni ...
at
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...
* The
Philodemic Society
The Philodemic Society is a student debating society at Georgetown University founded in 1830 by Father James Ryder, S.J. The Philodemic is among the oldest such societies in the United States, and is the oldest secular student organization at ...
at
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...
* The
Philolexian Society at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
* The
Philomathean Society
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at the
University of Pennsylvania
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* The
Union-Philanthropic Society
The Union-Philanthropic (Literary) Society (UPLS) is a college literary society at Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden Sydney is a census-designated place (CDP) in Prince Edward County, Virginia, Prince Edward County, Virginia, United States. The po ...
at
Hampden–Sydney College
gr, Ye Shall Know the Truth
, established =
, type = Private liberal arts men's college
, religious_affiliation = Presbyterian Church (USA)
, endowment = $258 million (2021)
, president = Larry Stimpert
, city = Hampden Sydney, Virginia
, cou ...
* The
Eumenean Society and Philanthropic Society at
Davidson College
Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after Revolutionary War general William Lee Davidson, who was killed at the nearby Battle of Cowan†...
* The
Euphradian Society The Euphradian Society, also known as (Phi Alpha Epsilon), a local societyThus not to be confused with Phi Alpha Epsilon, the national architectural engineering society of the same name. is a literary society
A literary society is a group of pe ...
and
Clariosophic Society
The Clariosophic Society, also known as ΜΣΦ (Mu Sigma Phi), is a literary society founded in 1806 at the University of South Carolina, then known as South Carolina College, as a result of the splitting in two of the Philomathic Society, wh ...
at the
University of South Carolina
* The
Washington Literary Society and Debating Union
The Washington Literary Society and Debating Union (also known as "the Washington Society" or "the Wash") is a literary and debating group at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, Charlottesville. While its current incarnation i ...
at the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
* The
Stubbs Society at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
*The
Demosthenian Literary Society at the
University of Georgia
, mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things."
, establ ...
Notes and references
* Carrier, Jerry and Michael Stewart. ''Hotel C, West Range, University of Virginia''. University of Virginia Press.
*
*
External links
Official Web Site: Jefferson Literary and Debating Society
{{Thomas Jefferson
University of Virginia
Student debating societies
1825 establishments in Virginia