III.

The Cosgrave Governments

Following the death in August 1922 of Collins in an ambush near Bandon, County Cork, William Cosgrave took over as chairman of the provisional government. His pro-Treaty party was in power from 1923 to 1932 and achieved considerable success in building a new state and establishing democratic institutions that mirrored the British ones that had preceded them. The civil service structure was taken over in its entirety from the British, and new departments of finance and defence were established. The Free State army and police force were restructured and enlarged. The judicial system was reorganized, but British law and its structures were retained.

Cosgrave’s governments worked to obtain greater freedom for the Free State within the Commonwealth. They resolved conflicts with Britain, including one over the question of the Free State’s responsibility for Britain’s war debt, and took a series of measures to strengthen the economy. One was the construction of a hydroelectric project on the River Shannon. The government believed these changes would aid the Free State’s trade and increase the chances of unification with Northern Ireland.

The Free State joined the League of Nations in 1923, and the following year it became the first Commonwealth nation to send its own ambassador to Washington, D.C. The Free State’s delegations also played crucial roles in the Imperial Conferences of Commonwealth countries in 1926, 1929, and 1930. Their efforts contributed to the passing of the 1931 Statute of Westminster, which enabled the Commonwealth’s members to pass legislation independently of the British Parliament. In effect, this gave the Free State the power to withdraw from the Commonwealth and overturn the 1921 treaty if it so desired.