ABSTRACT
The Free State government was from the very beginning faced with the most daunting problems. Apart from having to wage war and win it against the republicans, who had a lot of support in their stand against the Treaty, it also had to rebuild a shattered economy to tackle large-scale unemployment, poverty and sodal distress, and to provide industry, commerce and agriculture with a stable environment in which to flourish. At the same time the government could not afford to lose sight of the prindpal aim of the 1916 martyrs, as yet unfulfilled - that is, separation altogether from the British empire. Although the first constitution of the Free State, drafted in 1922, had acknowledged Ireland to have dominion status (like Canada) within the empire, with an obligation to recognize the king of Great Britain as sovereign, the Provisional Government led by Cosgrave recondled these opposite positions in a number of constructive ways.
