[citation needed] He also maintained that, as the highest official in the Republic, the príomh aire was the de facto head of state and that an amendment would merely bring the language of the constitution into harmony with this reality.
[2] When the First Dáil met in 1919, Éamon de Valera was the president of Sinn Féin and thus the natural choice for leadership.
However he had been imprisoned in England so, at the second meeting of the Dáil on 22 January, Cathal Brugha was elected as the first príomh aire on a temporary basis.
De Valera escaped Lincoln Prison in February and so was elected to replace Brugha at the Dáil's third meeting on 1 April.
His aim was to gain both popular and official recognition for the Republic, and to float a loan to finance Dáil Éireann and the War of Independence.
By letter, de Valera requested that Arthur Griffith–then the Minister for Home Affairs– be appointed as Deputy President in his absence.
[4] By his return de Valera had won public but not official support for the Republic and had raised a loan of $6 million.
After the election of the Second Dáil in 1921, de Valera resigned on 26 August and was immediately re-elected, adopting the new style of President of the Republic.
W. T. Cosgrave was appointed chairman of the provisional government on 25 August and was later elected as President of Dáil Éireann on 9 September.