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RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED AT THE PUBLIC MEETING FOLLOWING THE FIRST ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF SINN FÉIN

28 November 1905

The journalist and politician Arthur Griffith edited the weekly newspaper Sinn Féin beginning in 1906. He identified the term "Sinn Féin" with a set of ideas that emphasized abstention from the Westminster parliament, passive resistance to British domination, and the development of the Irish economy. The National Council of Sinn Féin, founded by Griffith in 1903, evolved into a party of sorts by 1907, but the party put forward no candidates in either of the general elections of 1910 and was generally moribund before World War I. Nevertheless, the Griffith doctrine of Irish political, economic, and cultural self-sufficiency (outlined briefly in the document below) was to have its day after the 1916 Rising.

SEE ALSO Griffith, Arthur; Politics: 1800 to 1921—Challenges to the Union; Sinn Féin Movement and Party to 1922

1. That the people of Ireland are a free people, and that no law made without their authority or consent is or can ever be binding on their conscience. That the General Council of County Councils presents the nucleus of a national authority, and we urge upon it to extend the scope of its deliberation and action, to take within its purview every question of national interest, and to formulate lines of procedure for the nation.
2. That national self-development through the recognition of the duties and rights of citizenship on the part of the individual, and by the aid and support of all movements originating from within Ireland, instinct with national tradition and not looking outside Ireland for the accomplishment of their aims, is vital to Ireland.

UNITED IRISHMAN, 9 December 1905.