Editing W. T. Cosgrave (section)

==Political career==
===Minister for local government===
Although Cosgrave was one of the most politically experienced of Sinn Féin's [[Teachta Dála|TDs]], Cosgrave was not within the leadership of the party. However, when [[Éamon de Valera]] formed the [[Government of the 1st Dáil#2nd Ministry|Second Ministry of Dáil Éireann]] on 2 April 1919, Cosgrave was named as [[Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage|Secretary of Local Government]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1919-04-02/9/|title=Dáil Éireann debate – Wednesday, 2 April 1919: NOMINATION OF MINISTRY. – Secretary for Local Government|access-date=31 August 2019|website=Houses of the Oireachtas|date=2 April 1919|archive-date=31 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190831140231/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1919-04-02/9/|url-status=live}}</ref> 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.{{sfn|Jordan|2006|p=48}} His chief task as Minister was the job of organising the non-cooperation of the people with the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British]] authorities and establishing an alternative system of government.

After the [[1920 Irish local elections|1920 local elections]], elected under the new system of [[single transferable vote]], 28 of the 33 local councils pledged loyalty to the Ministry of Local Government established by the Dáil. These councils then cut their links to the British government.

===Anglo-Irish Treaty===
Cosgrave supported the [[Anglo-Irish Treaty]], which had been signed on 6 December 1921. At the cabinet meeting in Dublin held to consider the Treaty immediately after it had been signed, Cosgrave surprised de Valera by agreeing with Collins and with [[Arthur Griffith]], de Valera's predecessor as leader of Sinn Féin and the chairman of the delegation which included Collins that had negotiated the Treaty.{{sfn|Jordan|2006|pp=63–64}} It was narrowly supported by the cabinet in a vote of 4 to 3, and was [[Anglo-Irish Treaty Dáil vote|supported by the Dáil]] in a vote of 64 to 57. However, de Valera voted against and resigned as president in January 1922 (which in August 1921 had been upgraded from a prime ministerial President of Dáil Éireann to a full head of state, called President of the Irish Republic). Griffith succeeded de Valera as president. Collins, following the Treaty, formed a [[Provisional Government of Ireland (1922)|Provisional Government]]; this included Cosgrave amongst its membership as Minister for Local Government. From July onward, he also became [[Minister for Finance (Ireland)|Minister for Finance]].

===Chairman of the Provisional Government===
The months following the acceptance of the Treaty saw a gradual progression to civil war. The split in Sinn Féin gradually deepened, and {{citation needed span|date=June 2022|the majority of the IRA}} hardened against accepting anything less than a full republic. {{Citation needed|date=June 2022}} 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. Despite this pact, the electorate voted heavily in favour of pro-Treaty 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 [[Irish Civil War|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. Having previously held the Local Government and Finance portfolios, Cosgrave became [[Chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State|Chairman of the Provisional Government]] on 30 August and President of Dáil Éirean on 9 September. He served in both offices simultaneously until 6 December 1922, when the Irish Free State came into being.