April 20

 [In this letter, dated April 20, 1824, I am writing to David Harding—the president of a newly formed debating society “The Jefferson Debating Society of Hingham” in Hingham, Massachusetts—to acknowledge the profound honor his organization has done my name by adopting it for their title. Written during my late retirement when I frequently seek to guide the education of the rising generation, I praise their laudable focus on the art of reasoning, which remains paramount in a republic where citizens must be led by persuasion rather than force. I urge these young republicans to look to classical antiquity for their models of oratory, specifically recommending the pre-eminent brevity found in the speeches of Livy, Sallust, and Tacitus, while sharply condemning the exhausting amplification of modern speakers whose time-measured orations rapidly vanish from public memory.]

I have duly received your favor of the 6th instant, informing me of the institution of a debating society in Hingham, composed of adherents to the republican principles of the revolution; and I am justly sensible of the honor done my name by associating it with the title of the society. The object of the society is laudable, and in a republican nation, whose citizens are to be led by reason and persuasion, and not by force, the art of reasoning becomes of first importance. In this line, antiquity has left us the finest models for imitation; and he who studies and imitates them most nearly, will nearest approach the perfection of the art. Among these I should consider the speeches of Livy, Sallust, and Tacitus, as pre-eminent specimens of logic, taste, and that sententious brevity which, using not a word to spare, leaves not a moment for inattention to the hearer. Amplification is the vice of modern oratory. It is an insult to an assembly of reasonable men, disgusting and revolting instead of persuading. Speeches measured by the hour, die with the hour. I will not, however, further indulge the disposition of the age to sermonize, and especially to those surrounded by so much better advice. With my apologies, therefore, for hazarding even these observations, and my prayers for the success of your institution, be pleased to accept for the society and yourself the assurances of my high consideration.