Pro-imperialists and anti-imperialists both had strong opinions on imperialism and therefore on the war. Pro-imperialists were like Editha in “Editha” and strongly believed that war was necessary. They were very enthusiastic about the prospect of war, believing that was “a sacred war. A war for liberty, and humanity, if there ever was one,” (Howells, 1446). Pro-imperialists didn’t see the harsher side of war, the shell shock and the death. They used the argument of sacred wars, liberty, and humanity to appeal to people’s American values and convince them to go to war. Editha is a perfect example of a pro-imperialist, she is all for war and fully believes the rhetoric that “God meant it to be war,” (Howells, 1446). The argument for a religious…show more content… They used this view, as well as a reiteration of certain American values to make a compelling argument against war. George’s death in “Editha” is a very good example of death and loss in war and would most likely have been used as an argument for the anti-imperialists. War, according to George’s mother, was a horrible thing. She shouts Editha down when Editha tries to defend war. When Editha says that she never expected George to die, Mrs. Gearson said that “No girls don’t [think their young men will die]; women don’t, when they give their men up to their country. They think they’ll come marching back, somehow, just as gay as they went, or if it’s an empty sleeve, or even an empty pantaloons, it’s all the more glory, and they’re so much the prouder of them, poor things.” (CITE) Editha is shocked by her bluntness but agrees in the end, that is what she had believed. She had seen the very American value of liberty and the ideal that Americans should be a ‘city on a hill’ and taken them to mean that America should go to war. Mrs. Gearson had seen the same values and ideals and interpreted them, along with the fact that her husband had lost an arm in the Civil war, to mean that we should not go to war and should stay out of
