Aguinaldo creature of his own age

Abstract

Born into a family that was not distinguished either for intellectual attainments or for economic prominence, Aguinaldo tasted a little of Spanish education, taught for a while, and then took to commerce as a means of fortifying the family's sagging economy. He was, until then, an ordinary young man known only as straight-backed, quiet, and soft-spoken. And then the Katipunan, with its incendiary leaflets and revolutionary aims, extended its plebeian arms to Cavite, where the tradition of robust manhood is expressed in deadly combats. It was the eve of the Revolution against Spain, and Aguinaldo, having now achieved a sort of fame as the newly-elected headman of his town, took the first significant step in his life by enlisting as a member of the revolutionary secret society.

Individualists to a certain extent, the Caviteños divided themselves into two rival Katipunan factions, each vying to outdo the other. So far, the young mayor had not made himself conspicuous as potential leader of Cavite. Mariano Alvarez, Baldomero Aguinaldo, and Candido Tirona were far above him in leadership. There was, in fact, no sign that young Aguinaldo would rise as the foremost leader of them all. Yet at one stroke, he succeeded in making himself their acknowledged leader in Cavite by the simple expedient of leading as assault group against the Spanish garrison a few days after the outbreak of the Revolution. For Aguinaldo it as the beginning of his rapid ascent to power.