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
This special episode is a recording from our 2025 Conference in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The round table title is "Building Places of Intellectual Community," and...
In this episode, Josh Bowman interviews professor and author James Matthew Wilson. We talk about poetry, creative writing, and the unique MFA in creative...
Josh Bowman talks with Matthew K. Michels OblSB, who is a professional bookbinder and writer, and the owner of Black Cowl Bindery. He is...