[5] In September 1917, he and Michael Collins addressed a crowd in Dunboyne, County Meath, urging people to join the Irish Volunteers.

However, when Éamon de Valera formed the Second Ministry of Dáil Éireann on 2 April 1919, Cosgrave was named as Secretary of Local Government.

[10] His close friendship with de Valera and his long experience on Dublin Corporation, most recently as chairman of its finance committee, were among the reasons he was selected.

[11] His chief task as Minister was the job of organising the non-cooperation of the people with the British authorities and establishing an alternative system of government.

The split in Sinn Féin gradually deepened, and the majority of the IRA[citation needed] hardened against accepting anything less than a full republic.

[citation needed] Collins and de Valera tried desperately to find a middle course and formed a pact whereby Sinn Féin fought a general election in June with a common slate of candidates.

On the day of the election, the draft Constitution of the Irish Free State was published; it was rejected by the Anti-Treatyites, for it was not a republican document.

Collins, forced to a decision, opted to maintain the Treaty position and the support of the British government, and moved to suppress the Republican opposition that had seized the Four Courts in Dublin.

The Civil War began on 28 June 1922, and the IRA was decisively defeated in the field over the following two months, being largely pinned back to Munster.

In August 1922, both Griffith and Collins died in quick succession; the former of natural causes, the latter a few days later when ambushed by Republicans at Béal na Bláth, County Cork.

With de Valera now on the fringes as the nominal leader of the anti-Treaty forces in the Civil War, the new dominion (which was in the process of being created but which would not legally come into being until December 1922) had lost all its most senior figures.

Though it had the option of going for General Richard Mulcahy, Collins' successor as Commander-in-Chief of the National Army, the pro-Treaty leadership opted for Cosgrave, in part due to his democratic credentials as a long-time politician.

His view was that if harsh action were not taken, a guerrilla war could drag on indefinitely, making the achievement of law and order and establishing the Free State impossible.

[15] In April 1923, the pro-Treaty Sinn Féin members organised a new political party called Cumann na nGaedheal with Cosgrave as leader.

The following month the Civil War was brought to an end when the remaining anti-Treaty IRA guerrillas announced a ceasefire and dumped their arms.

[16] In March 1924, more layoffs were expected, and army officers Major-General Liam Tobin and Colonel Charles Dalton sent an ultimatum to the government demanding an end to the demobilisation.

[17] Minister for Justice Kevin O'Higgins, who was also acting president for Cosgrave while the latter was in hospital, moved to resolve the so-called "Army Mutiny".

Richard Mulcahy, the Minister for Defence, resigned, and O'Higgins was victorious in a very public power struggle within Cumann na nGaedheal.

The Free State expected to gain much territory in heavily Catholic and republican parts of Counties Londonderry, Fermanagh, Tyrone, and Armagh, for the British government had indicated during the Treaty negotiations that the wishes of the nationalist inhabitants along the border would be taken into account.

However, after months of secret negotiations, a newspaper reported that there would be little change to the border, and the Free State would lose territory in County Donegal.

[19]In June 1927, a general election was held in which de Valera's new party, Fianna Fáil, won many seats on an abstentionist platform.

[citation needed] Although Cosgrave and his government accepted dominion status for the Irish Free State, they did not trust the British to respect this new independence.

The new state also became the first British Commonwealth country to have a separate or non-British representative in Washington, D.C., and exchanged diplomats with many other European nations.

Agriculture responded well with stricter quality control being introduced and the passing of a Land Act to help farmers buy their farms.

Cosgrave, like most of his cabinet a devout Catholic, had invested much time in the build-up to it and wished it to proceed without any tension from a pending general election.

[23] Cumann na nGaedheal fought the election on its record of providing ten years of honest government and political and economic stability.

Cosgrave retired as leader of the party at the Fine Gael Ard Fheis in the Mansion House, Dublin, on 26 January 1944, and was succeeded by Richard Mulcahy.

[25] An effective and good chairman rather than a colourful or charismatic leader, he led the new state during the more turbulent period of its history, when the legislation necessary for the foundation of a stable independent Irish polity needed to be pushed through.

The Fianna Fáil government under Seán Lemass awarded him the honour of a state funeral, which was attended by the cabinet, the leaders of all the main Irish political parties, and Éamon de Valera, then President of Ireland.

Richard Mulcahy said, "It is in terms of the Nation and its needs and its potential that I praise God who gave us in our dangerous days the gentle but steel-like spirit of rectitude, courage and humble self-sacrifice, that was William T.