EPISODE 42 - Jack Ferguson and the American Founding's Debt to Cicero

Josh Bowman talks with legal scholar Jack Ferguson about his recent article exploring Cicero’s impact on the American Founders. We discuss natural law, republicanism, executive power, and more.

Jack’s article is “The Ciceronian Origins of American Law and Constitutionalism” from The Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, which can be found here: https://journals.law.harvard.edu/jlpp/wp-content/uploads/sites/90/2025/03/Ferguson-Ciceronian-Origins.pdf 

The 2026 Ciceronian Society Conference will be held March 12-14 at Creighton University in Omaha, NE. Panel and paper proposals are due September 1, 2025. 

To learn more about us, our events, this Podcast, our journal, Pietas, to sign up for our newsletter, and to make your tax deductible gift, please go to https://ciceroniansociety.org/

0:00 Why Care About Cicero?
10:00 Part 1 - Cicero's Influence
16:21 Part 2 - Law of Nature & Law of Nations
19:47 Common Law
23:09 Judicial Review
27:45 Part 3 - Republicanism
32:58 Personal Character
36:42 Part 4- Executive Authority
42:57 Cicero's Authority with the Founders