All about Aguinaldo, Emilio

Aguinaldo, Emilio Emilio Aguinaldo became a leader of his people in the Philippine Islands when he was quite a young man. He was born in 1870, on the largest island of the Philippines, Luzon. At that time the Philippine Islands were colonies of Spain. They were ruled by Spanish gov­ernors and subject to unfair Spanish laws, much as the Americans had been ruled by British governors and British laws before they fought the Revolution­ary War. When patriotic Filipinos re­volted against Spanish rule, Aguinaldo joined them.

He was then 25 years old. The Spanish put down the revolution, and they exiled Aguinaldo—they sent him out of the country and forbade him to come back. But in 1898, the United States went to war against Spain. This was the Span­ish-American War, and the principal purpose of the United States was to free the people of Cuba, who had been under Spanish rule just as the Fili­pinos had been. However, when Spain became engaged in a war with the United States, the Philippine Islands re­volted again. Aguinaldo went back to help lead the revolt, and was made a general. He fought bravely with the United States troops. The United States won the war easily.