[5] Like many student organizations at the University, the Washington Society was politically active in the secessionist cause in the years prior to the American Civil War.

A resolution that had been in place since 1858 to avoid debate questions that "would bring up any of the political issues now distracting the country" was lifted in January 1860, and the society subsequently debated the questions of a state's right to secede (answering in the affirmative) and whether Virginia should secede from the union if Lincoln were elected president (also answering in the affirmative).

[6] In 1861, after the secession of Virginia from the Union, the Society voted to send its surplus treasury (about $200) to the Governor of the Commonwealth for the defense of the state.

Briefly reforming in 1939 as a society with the aim of "encouraging intellectual curiosity, gentlemanliness, congeniality and the idealization of the Virginia gentleman," it soon became extinct again until its modern refounding in 1979.

[12] A year later, in 1980, Leslie Eliason, the first female president and fifth member, established or reestablished most of the traditions that continue today, including Thursday meetings in Jeff Hall, and debates with the Jefferson Society.

In 1852, the Society asked for permission to enlarge its room in Hotel B; University historian Philip Alexander Bruce notes that this was the origin of the use of the name Washington Hall to describe these chambers.

Literary presentations and debates range from humorous discussions to serious readings or reenactments of plays, dramas, poems, stories, and the like.

The Society hosts two literary competitions for University of Virginia students with a cash prize awarded to the winner.

Provisional members are required to complete a literary presentation and debate in front of the Society as well as perform an act of service.