Prerequisite(s): WRIT 105 or HONP 100. Students will explore the written documents related to elections and social movements in the United States, critically examining the rhetorical strategies that activists and politicians use in order to persuade their audiences. Beginning with the classical agora, where the art of rhetoric was refined for political purposes, through the modern day, with rhetorically‐gifted politicians such as Barack Obama and speechwriters such as Peggy Noonan, students will examine political rhetorics composed in a variety of contexts and for myriad purposes. In addition to writing analyses of the political texts of others, students will also intervene in contemporary political debates by composing their own persuasive political texts.