Analyzing Historical Document

Activity: Analyzing the Kartilya ng Katipunan by Jim Richardson

Name/s: _________________________________ Date: ______________

Directions:
1. Read carefully the “Kartilya ng Katipunan of Jim Richardson.
2. Use the rubric below as a guide in accomplishing the required task.

Success Indicator Descriptor Allotted Points

Completeness All questions are answered. 7
Quality Each answer is explained well with elaboration and/or 25
example.
Miscellaneous The worksheet is erasure-free and cleanly 3
accomplished. No grammatical lapses are incurred.

1. Type of document:

Secondary Source

2. Date[s] of the document:

1892-1897

3. Author:

Emilio Jacinto

4. For what audience was the document written?

 The target audience of this writing are the Filipinos. This document, by
definition, allows us to restore this reality with all the purity of rediscovery,
while also integrating other nation-forming experiences in our past into an one
interwoven narrative.

5. Document information

The majority of the 73 Katipunan documents in this collection were captured

by the Guardia Civil in Manila in 1896-1897 and kept in Spanish military
archives for decades. Two copies of the Katipunan's 1892 foundation laws,
more than twenty Supreme Council documents, initiation ceremonies, draft
contributions to KALAYAAN, the KKK newspaper, and correspondence of
Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Jacinto are all transcribed and published here for
the first time. A few well-known papers are also included, including
Bonifacio's "Decalogue," Jacinto's "Kartilya," the Acta de Tejeros, and the
Naik Military Agreement. In most cases, short introductions precede the
original Tagalog passages, which are then followed by English translations or
paraphrases. Supplementary studies address Katipunan leadership and
structure in the city and province of Manila, as well as the Katipunan's
controversial historiography. This book offers a plethora of new insights
about the character, ideals, and struggles of the secret organization that
sparked the American Revolution.

A. List important pieces of information [3] presented in the document.

“The Philippine Revolution of 1896 is the primary and formative experience of
Philippine nationhood, and that revolution was principally [Andres]
Bonifacio’s doing.” A work that allows us to reclaim this truth with all the
innocence of rediscovery, while at the same time connecting other nation-
forming experiences of our history in one integrated narrative, is important by
definition.

Second, what Richardson refers to as "a lack of sources," into which abyss
ideologues and popularizers have voluntarily fallen, has disguised the genuine
character of the Katipunan, the revolutionary movement Bonifacio created.
"The crying shortage of reliable sources has tempted historians to write
history as they wish it had been," he writes in his preface, "and has allowed
every species of fallacy to flourish, from wild conjecture and fanciful exegesis
to hagiography and myth-making; from simple error to outright fabrication."

Third, ideological frameworks that would have made little sense to the
Katipuneros and revolutionaries themselves continue to divide Philippine
society: reform vs revolution, Rizal versus Bonifacio, ilustrado versus
 plebeian, affluent versus poor. A work that convincingly demonstrates how
much Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto, and other Katipunan organizers saw
themselves as continuing the work of Rizal, Marcelo del Pilar, and other
propagandists, a work that demonstrates beyond a shadow of a doubt that
those who joined the Katipunan were not only the "unlettered," but also the
learned, that its membership came from all classes, and, above all, a study
that proves that the

B. Why was the document written?

Jim Richardson's book The Light of Liberty: Document and Studies on the
Katipunan helps the current Filipino reader to recognize the Katipunan for what it
truly was.What evidence in the document helps you to determine why it was
written? Quote from the document.

C. What evidence in the document helps you to determine why it was written? Quote
from the document.

The Kartilya is addressed “To those who want to join the Katipunan”; the
Masonic document to “los profanos quedeben inscribirse en la Sociedad.”The
preamble to the Kartilya echoes the Masonic document’s stated purpose, which
is to ensure that candidates fully understand the association’s objectives before
making a commitment they might later repent.

D. What historical event[s] does this document refer or pertain to? What is happening
when the document was written?

The Kartilya was still in use during the first phase of the revolution, and Bonifacio
was planning to print more copies shortly before he was killed.It may still have
been used during the second phase of the revolution, for a version survives in
the Philippine Insurgent Records that is stamped with the seal used by Artemio
Ricarte in 1899.This version contains basically the same text as is transcribed
here, but it bears a different title –“Final Declaration on Admission to the
Katipunan” (Katapusang pamamahayag sa pagpasok sa K.) –and it omitsthe
famous footnote that says “the word Tagalogmeans all those born in this
Archipelago.”
E. Write a question to the author that is left unanswered by the document?
Is this document really helps the Filipinos understand the events during Katipunan?