Editing Éamon de Valera (section)

==Founding of Fianna Fáil==
[[File:Members of Fianna Fáil, 1927 (cropped).jpg|thumb|De Valera surrounded by founding members of Fianna Fáil in 1927, including [[Constance Markiewicz]], [[P. J. Ruttledge]], [[Frank Aiken]], [[Seán Lemass]] and many others.]]
After the IRA dumped their arms rather than surrender them or continue a now fruitless war, de Valera returned to political methods. In 1924, he was arrested in [[Newry]] for "illegally entering Northern Ireland" and later arrested in Derry. When at trial in Belfast on 1 November 1924 he refused to recognize the court saying that it was: "a creature of a foreign power and therefore had not the sanction of the Irish people".<ref>Mcardle, p.878</ref> He was held in [[solitary confinement]] for a month in [[Crumlin Road Gaol]], [[Belfast]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=McGarvey |first=Paul |date=2016-03-31 |title=Crumlin Road Gaol: Evolution from symbol of conflict to concerts |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-35916907 |url-status=live |access-date=2023-07-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220824193413/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-35916907 |archive-date=August 24, 2022}}</ref>

During this time, de Valera came to believe that abstentionism was not a workable tactic in the long term. He now believed that a better course would be to try to gain power and turn the Free State from a constitutional monarchy into a republic. He tried to convince Sinn Féin to accept this new line. However, a vote to accept the Free State Constitution (contingent on the abolition of the [[Oath of Allegiance (Ireland)|Oath of Allegiance]]) narrowly failed. Soon afterwards, de Valera resigned from Sinn Féin and seriously considered leaving politics.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

However, one of his colleagues, [[Seán Lemass]], convinced de Valera to found a new republican party.<ref name=examnotes>[http://test.scoilnet.ie/Res/maryodubhain100899224214_2.html Exam notes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171003030713/http://test.scoilnet.ie/Res/maryodubhain100899224214_2.html |date=3 October 2017 }} about Seán Lemass</ref> In March 1926, with Lemass, [[Constance Markievicz]] and others, de Valera formed a new party, [[Fianna Fáil]] (''The Warriors of Destiny''), a party that was to dominate 20th-century Irish politics.<ref name="BBC - History - Eamon de Valera">{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/de_valera_eamon.shtml|title=BBC – History – Eamon de Valera|access-date=4 September 2017|archive-date=23 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170823055201/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/de_valera_eamon.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> While Sinn Féin still held to an abstentionist line, Fianna Fáil was dedicated to republicanising the Free State from within if it gained power.

Having attracted most of Sinn Féin's branches due to Lemass' organisational skill,<ref name=examnotes/> the new party made swift electoral gains in the [[June 1927 Irish general election|general election on 9 June 1927]]. In the process, it took much of Sinn Féin's previous support, winning 44 seats to Sinn Féin's five. It refused to take the Oath of Allegiance (portrayed by opponents as an 'Oath of Allegiance to the Crown' but actually an ''Oath of Allegiance to the Irish Free State'' with a secondary ''promise of fidelity to the King in his role in the Treaty settlement'').<ref name=DEDebate1921>{{cite web|url=http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/DT/D.T.192112190002.html |title=Dáil Éireann – Volume 3–19 December 1921 - Debate on Treaty |access-date=4 March 2011 |url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721130127/http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/DT/D.T.192112190002.html |archive-date=21 July 2011 }}</ref>

The oath was largely the work of Collins and based on three sources: British oaths in the dominions, the oath of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and a draft oath prepared by de Valera in his proposed treaty alternative, "Document No. 2". De Valera began a legal case to challenge the requirement that members of his party take the Oath, but the assassination of the [[Vice-President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State|Vice-President of the Executive Council]] (deputy prime minister) [[Kevin O'Higgins]] on 10 July 1927 led the [[Executive Council of the Irish Free State|Executive Council]] under W. T. Cosgrave to introduce a Bill on 20 July<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1927-07-20/23/ |title=Electoral (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 1927—First Stage |access-date=9 December 2018 |archive-date=9 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181209212917/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1927-07-20/23/ |url-status=live }}</ref> requiring all Dáil candidates to promise on oath that if they were elected they would take the Oath of Allegiance. Forced into a corner, and faced with the option of staying outside politics forever or taking the oath and entering, de Valera and his TDs took the Oath of Allegiance on 12 August 1927, though de Valera himself described the Oath as "an empty political formula".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/ashorthistory/archive/intro236.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100820044651/http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/ashorthistory/archive/intro236.shtml |url-status = dead|archive-date=20 August 2010 |title=BBC's Short History of Ireland |publisher=BBC |date=1 January 1970 |access-date=21 August 2013 }}</ref>

De Valera never organised Fianna Fáil in Northern Ireland and it was not until 7 December 2007 that Fianna Fáil was registered there by the [[UK Electoral Commission]].<ref name="rte-ukelcomm">{{cite news|url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/1207/fiannafail.html|title=FF officially recognised in Northern Ireland|publisher=[[RTÉ News]]|date=7 December 2007|access-date=8 December 2007|archive-date=8 December 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071208135811/http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/1207/fiannafail.html|url-status=live}}</ref>