The John Marshall Lecture Series features scholars, journalists, and other public figures with a view to shedding light on the peculiar responsibilities and challenges of democratic leadership. It includes two lectures a year directed toward a large general campus audience and four seminar presentations per year intended for a smaller audience of interested faculty and students. Each general lecture also includes an additional seminar or similar smaller meetings with undergraduates and graduate students.

Upcoming Events

Past Events

Fall 2016 Events

“Political Philosophy and the Chinese University”

Ming Chong, Visiting Scholar, Department of Government, Harvard University
Friday, October 7, 2016   12:00 PM   McGuinn 521

“Leo Strauss, Carl Schmitt, and the Search for the ‘Order of Human Things’”

Alberto Ghibellini, Benjamin Franklin Project, MIT
Friday, November 18, 2016   12:00 PM   McGuinn 521

“Sin, Guilt, and the Future of Progress”

Wilfred M. McClay, Center for History of Liberty, University of Oklahoma
Friday, December 2, 2016   4:00 PM   Higgins Rm 300

Spring 2016 Events

“From Popular Sovereignty to Civil Society in Post-Revolutionary France”

John Marshall Project Luncheon Talk
Bryan Garsten, Yale University
Monday, February 8, 2016   12:00 PM   McGuinn 521

“Statesmen and Intellectuals: Edmund Burke on Politics and the Academy”

John Marshall Project Luncheon Talk
Yuval Levin, Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center
Monday, February 29, 2016   12:00 PM   McGuinn 521

“Classical Liberal Arguments for the Utility of Religion”

John Marshall Lectures in Political Theory Luncheon Talk
Sanford Kessler, NC State University, School of Public & International Affairs
Monday, March 14, 2016   12:00 PM   10 Stone Ave, Room 201

“Was Joseph Story a Christian Constitutionalist?”

John Marshall Project Luncheon Talk
James Stoner, Louisiana State University
Wednesday, April 6, 2016  12:00 PM   McGuinn 226A

“An Introduction to the Political Philosophy of Plutarch”

John Marshall Lectures in Political Theory Luncheon Talk
Hugh Liebert, West Point, United States Military Academy
Thursday, April 14, 2016   4:30 PM   McGuinn 226A

“The Question of Intervention: JS Mill and the Responsibility to Protect”

John Marshall Project and Program for the Study of Western Heritage Lecture
Michael Doyle, Columbia University
Response: Jakub Grygiel, Johns Hopkins University
Monday, April 25, 2016   Cushing Hall 001 Auditorium   

"Montesquieu and the Despotic Ideas of Europe"

John Marshall Project Luncheon Talk
Vickie Sullivan, Tufts University