Less than a decade after the end of the Civil War, Fianna Fáil won power on 16 February 1932. The party won 72 seats and 44.5 per cent of the vote, allowing it to govern with support from the Labour Party. The landmark first change of government in the history of the state has been the subject of much academic comment and its significance noted. In many ways, however, the policies of the Fianna Fáil government in 1932 and 1933 and popular and elite responses to them were far more important to the development of politics in independent Ireland. De Valera's decision to withhold land annuities payments and the beginning of his efforts to redefine the constitutional relationship with Britain with the removal of the oath of allegiance convulsed not just Anglo-Irish relations, but domestic politics. Not only was the previous political status quo of steady progress within the Commonwealth under Cumann na nGaedheal utterly disrupted, but the beginning of the ‘Economic War’ and the threat to farmers from the loss of the British market created a sense of heightened tension throughout the state, particularly in farming communities. Such tensions would leave a deep imprint on the body politic in the period as parties emerged, merged and were wound up and an extra-parliamentary movement, the Blueshirts, were brought to the forefront of Irish political life.

While Fianna Fáil's victory meant the opposition benches beckoned for most TDs from Irish Party backgrounds, many would prove to be far from inconspicuous backbenchers in the fraught and fleeting Seventh Dáil. Cumann na nGaedheal voted against de Valera's election as President of the Executive Council on 9 March 1932; however, James Dillon sparked interest on his very first day in Dáil Éireann by voting for the Fianna Fáil leader. In his view, de Valera deserved his chance as the people had clearly given him their backing.